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هم رنگ جماعت
همرنگ جماعت آشکارا رمانی چندوجهی است: داستان سفر ماهعسلی در پاریس، ماجرای یک قتل حکومتی، شرح حال یک مرد و توصیف یک عصر و یک جامعه. اما، با نگاهی دقیقتر، درمییابیم که این رمان بهویژه تصویر شخصیت و نگرش اخلاقی خاصِ عصر ماست؛ همرنگ جماعت و همرنگی با جماعت. قهرمان قرن گذشته فردی شورشی بود، کسی که میخواست متمایز باشد، مخالفت کند و با دیگران متفاوت باشد. به گفتهٔ موراویا، در عوض قهرمان عصر ما همرنگ جماعت است، یعنی کسی که میل به سازگاری دارد. البته ورای معنایی که داستان در یک بافت دقیق سیاسی مطرح میکند، در سطح ادبی، رمان ارائهدهندهٔ تصویری واقعی و ملموس از تقابل بین تمدن عقلانی و تمدنی تحت سلطهٔ بینظمیای است که در درجهٔ اول اخلاقی است. به این ترتیب، در این داستان مضمون بزرگ موراویایی از رابطهٔ بین انسان و جامعه پدید میآید، مضمونی فرافکنانه و آرامشبخش که در آنِ واحد اشکال ممکن فُرم و موضوع را گرد میآورد تا به هنر تبدیل کند. «مارچلّو برای نخستین بار، علاوه بر احساس محبت صادقانهٔ همیشگی به جولیا، برایش احساس ترحم کرد. فهمید که هنوز فرصت برای عقبنشینی باقی است و برای گذراندن ماهعسل بهجای رفتن به پاریس، جایی که باید مأموریت خود را انجام دهد، میتوانند به جای دیگری بروند. پس از آن، به وزارتخانه خواهد گفت که از انجام این مأموریت خودداری میکند. اما همان لحظه، متوجه شد که چنین چیزی ناممکن است. این مأموریت احتمالاً محکمترین، مسالمتآمیزترین و قاطعترین گامی بود که میتوانست بردارد تا بهطور قطع همرنگ جماعت شود. ازدواج با جولیا، جشن عروسی، مراسم مذهبی، اعتراف و عشای ربانی هم گامهایی در همین راستا بودند، اما بهنظرش آنها از اهمیت کمتری برخوردار بودند.»
304 pages, Paperback
First published April 15, 1951
202 people are currently reading
5910 people want to read
About the author
Alberto Moravia
513 books1,210 followersAlberto Moravia, born Alberto Pincherle, was one of the leading Italian novelists of the twentieth century whose novels explore matters of modern sexuality, social alienation, and existentialism. He was also a journalist, playwright, essayist and film critic.
Moravia was an atheist, his writing was marked by its factual, cold, precise style, often depicting the malaise of the bourgeoisie, underpinned by high social and cultural awareness. Moravia believed that writers must, if they were to represent reality, assume a moral position, a clearly conceived political, social, and philosophical attitude, but also that, ultimately, "A writer survives in spite of his beliefs".
Moravia was an atheist, his writing was marked by its factual, cold, precise style, often depicting the malaise of the bourgeoisie, underpinned by high social and cultural awareness. Moravia believed that writers must, if they were to represent reality, assume a moral position, a clearly conceived political, social, and philosophical attitude, but also that, ultimately, "A writer survives in spite of his beliefs".
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January 3, 2019
The Conformist kick started my love affair with Moravia's work, of which now I am a big fan.
I think of him as not just one of Italy's greatest writers, but one of the most undervalued writers of the 20th century. In a spare and poetic prose he relishing in the finer details of existence, whilst also brilliantly capturing the Italian landscape. In The Conformist Moravia attempts to analyze what makes a fascist by using a physiological fictive narrative. His main character here: Marcello Clarici, displays many of traits of an edgy psychopath from early in his childhood. Moravia also gives us some suggestions on how a person’s experiences and genetic history might push him toward anti-social, murderous behavior, something which would go on and shape his adulthood, and a dilemma involving his former teacher, a man named Quadri.
About to be married, and searching for normalcy in his life as a way of hiding his secret work for the fascists as Italy ramps up to the war, he agrees to take his honeymoon in Paris in order to renew his acquaintance with Quadri, of which he learns he is an anti-fascist agitator and therefore must be eliminated. Moravia takes us through Marcello’s thinking, driven by wanting to be normal, something denied of him in youth, but which Marcello has searched for all his life. He harbors no real dislike for his teacher, but his profession allows for zero sentimentally.
Moravia should also be credited with writing scenes of frank and open sexuality in the novel,
something he has done in other novels, and characters are somewhat twisted and deformed by their lives. This is more a character study in the height of fascism that it is a thriller. How does one reach such a level of deviance? Is there any such thing as redemption for someone so devoid of emotion and so bent on murder? The resolution of these conflicts in Marcello’s life makes for powerful reading, and in the end, themes of lost innocence and the confusion of normalcy with conformity take center stage.
I think of him as not just one of Italy's greatest writers, but one of the most undervalued writers of the 20th century. In a spare and poetic prose he relishing in the finer details of existence, whilst also brilliantly capturing the Italian landscape. In The Conformist Moravia attempts to analyze what makes a fascist by using a physiological fictive narrative. His main character here: Marcello Clarici, displays many of traits of an edgy psychopath from early in his childhood. Moravia also gives us some suggestions on how a person’s experiences and genetic history might push him toward anti-social, murderous behavior, something which would go on and shape his adulthood, and a dilemma involving his former teacher, a man named Quadri.
About to be married, and searching for normalcy in his life as a way of hiding his secret work for the fascists as Italy ramps up to the war, he agrees to take his honeymoon in Paris in order to renew his acquaintance with Quadri, of which he learns he is an anti-fascist agitator and therefore must be eliminated. Moravia takes us through Marcello’s thinking, driven by wanting to be normal, something denied of him in youth, but which Marcello has searched for all his life. He harbors no real dislike for his teacher, but his profession allows for zero sentimentally.
Moravia should also be credited with writing scenes of frank and open sexuality in the novel,
something he has done in other novels, and characters are somewhat twisted and deformed by their lives. This is more a character study in the height of fascism that it is a thriller. How does one reach such a level of deviance? Is there any such thing as redemption for someone so devoid of emotion and so bent on murder? The resolution of these conflicts in Marcello’s life makes for powerful reading, and in the end, themes of lost innocence and the confusion of normalcy with conformity take center stage.
July 6, 2013
A Psychological Thriller
Some of my favourite films explore how people have dealt with life under Fascism or Communism:
* Istvan Szabo’s "Mephisto" (Germany);
* Ingmar Bergman’s "The Serpent’s Egg" (Sweden);
* Bernardo Bertolucci’s "The Conformist" (Italy);
* Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s "The Lives of Others" (Germany).
Not only do they help understand the relationship of an individual to an authoritarian regime, but they also explore existentialist issues that became more pressing in the context of the Second World War and the post-war environment.
Bertolucci’s wonderful film was an adaptation of this book, the title of which announces Alberto Moravia’s intention to construct a novel that is at once both psychological and socio-political.
If you haven’t seen the film, I urge you to seek it out. Whether or not you get to see the film, I recommend that you read this novel.
To be honest, during the first half, I wondered whether Moravia had failed to lift his work above the ideas that formed his subject matter. (1)
However, his prose is lean, the novel is very easy to read, and ultimately it took on the feel of a psychological thriller. No wonder that it was made into a film.
Jean-Louis Trintignant in Bernardo Bertolucci's 1970 adaptation of Moravia's novel "The Conformist."
A Note about Spoilers
While I have incidentally mentioned aspects of plot more than I normally do in my reviews, I have tried to limit myself to the "set-up" of two of the major plot issues: the conformity of the Conformist and his engagement with the Non-Conformist.
I have tried to avoid any detail or implication about what follows, except to the extent that I mention the abstract nature of his own self-realisation (but not the trigger of it). (2)
The Abnormal Child
The protagonist is 30 year old Dr. Marcello Clerici, a medium ranking public servant in the pre-war Government of Mussolini's Italian Fascist Party, soon to become a one-off secret agent.
When we meet him, he is a relatively innocent 13 year old. At various times, Moravia describes him as timid, feminine, impressionable, unmethodical, imaginative, impetuous, passionate, confiding, expansive, sometimes positively exuberant.
Nevertheless, he gets into some mischief, which causes his parents’ housekeeper to remark:
"You begin by killing a cat and you end by killing a man."
In time, Marcello becomes "abnormal and mysteriously imbued with guilt".
In a way, his guilt derives from a first cause or an original sin. He is deprived of his innocence as a teenager, although Christian doctrine would have it that we are all born guilty.
The Conformist Adult
Marcello’s life becomes a desire, a quest for normality, for redemption, for absolution.
He has a longing to be like everybody else. To be different would be to be guilty.
By the time we meet him 17 years later, he is "perfectly sure of himself, entirely masculine in his tastes and in his general attitude, calm, methodical to a fault, almost completely lacking in imagination, cool and self-controlled, reserved, always equable in temper, lacking in vivacity if not actually gloomy, silent, a sort of benumbed, grey normality".
Having obtained a job in the Italian Government, he embraces Franco’s Civil War against the Spanish Republican Government, wanting him to win "with a profound, tenacious desire, as though such a victory would provide confirmation of the goodness and rightness of his own tastes and ideas not merely in the political field but in all others as well."
He now has the conviction that he is right. He has built "a bond, a bridge, a symbol of attachment and communion" with the middle class, the conventional, the ordinary, the common, the modest, the reassuring, the complacent.
No longer is he "a solitary, an abnormal person, a mad man, he was one of them, a brother, a fellow-citizen, a comrade".
In other words, he is a Conformist. Only, his resemblance to other men is "deliberate and imitative rather than a result of a conformity of inclination". He is a fake Conformist.
The Non-Conformist Mentor
Marcello’s conformity allows him to turn around and focus his energies on Non-Conformists. He feels repugnance for any form of corruption or decadence, and he is compelled to banish abnormality, subversion and disorder:
"The possession of the truth did not merely permit, it also imposed, action. Action was a confirmation of one’s own normality that must be provided both for oneself and for others."
Marcello’s first target is Edmondo Quadri, formerly his Professor in History and Philosophy who has become a leader of the anti-Fascist movement and is living in exile in Paris.
Quadri is gentle, affectionate and persuasive, a father figure, if not quite Christ-like, the epitome of what the Fascist Party describes as a "negative, impotent intellectual", who, after years of passive opposition, has "passed from thought to action".
So effectively we have a conflict between two men who have been called to action for different, almost mirror image, reasons.
Quadri tries to save Italy and Europe from Fascism. Marcello, placed in a position where he must bet on one horse or another, is a Conformist in one sphere, but must seem like a Judas in the other. Only History can tell who will prevail.
The Correction
To say more, to discuss the themes of the novel any more deeply, is to risk spoilers.
However, ultimately, Marcello must confront and deal with his complicity in the political crimes of the era.
He realises that, even outside the context of the War and Fascism, he is not the only guilty one. We are all guilty. None of us is innocent:
"All of us have been innocent...and we all lose our innocence, one way or another; it’s the normal thing."
In other words, he learns that, all along, he was no less innocent than anyone else. He didn’t need to aspire to normality.
Equally importantly, while he has struggled to achieve perfect normality, he discovers that the truly normal "take the utmost liberties with normality itself."
Marcello realises that normality is fallacious, "merely a mask for inverted pride and self-esteem".
He should have aimed for authenticity, to be true to himself, instead.
The Innocent
As part of Marcello’s embrace of normality, he marries Giulia and soon learns that they have had a daughter. On the night of her conception, he says:
"I have loved, I have united myself with a woman and have begotten another human being."
While fate inevitably determines the course of Marcello’s own life and career, he learns too late, but on our behalf, that our children deserve a different life, one of "liveliness, caprice, grace, lightness, clarity, freshness, adventure."
This is the positive message that illuminates the darkness at the end of the novel. And it’s not a bad message.
Footnotes:
(1) After a while, I started to keep track of some of the key abstract terms used in the novel. Ultimately, the thriller aspect of the novel took over, and they didn’t stand out as much. But here are the ones that began, strangely enough, with "c" or "a":
(2) I've placed some topics for further consideration in My Writings. They contain spoilers.
http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/3...
Some of my favourite films explore how people have dealt with life under Fascism or Communism:
* Istvan Szabo’s "Mephisto" (Germany);
* Ingmar Bergman’s "The Serpent’s Egg" (Sweden);
* Bernardo Bertolucci’s "The Conformist" (Italy);
* Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s "The Lives of Others" (Germany).
Not only do they help understand the relationship of an individual to an authoritarian regime, but they also explore existentialist issues that became more pressing in the context of the Second World War and the post-war environment.
Bertolucci’s wonderful film was an adaptation of this book, the title of which announces Alberto Moravia’s intention to construct a novel that is at once both psychological and socio-political.
If you haven’t seen the film, I urge you to seek it out. Whether or not you get to see the film, I recommend that you read this novel.
To be honest, during the first half, I wondered whether Moravia had failed to lift his work above the ideas that formed his subject matter. (1)
However, his prose is lean, the novel is very easy to read, and ultimately it took on the feel of a psychological thriller. No wonder that it was made into a film.
Jean-Louis Trintignant in Bernardo Bertolucci's 1970 adaptation of Moravia's novel "The Conformist."
A Note about Spoilers
While I have incidentally mentioned aspects of plot more than I normally do in my reviews, I have tried to limit myself to the "set-up" of two of the major plot issues: the conformity of the Conformist and his engagement with the Non-Conformist.
I have tried to avoid any detail or implication about what follows, except to the extent that I mention the abstract nature of his own self-realisation (but not the trigger of it). (2)
The Abnormal Child
The protagonist is 30 year old Dr. Marcello Clerici, a medium ranking public servant in the pre-war Government of Mussolini's Italian Fascist Party, soon to become a one-off secret agent.
When we meet him, he is a relatively innocent 13 year old. At various times, Moravia describes him as timid, feminine, impressionable, unmethodical, imaginative, impetuous, passionate, confiding, expansive, sometimes positively exuberant.
Nevertheless, he gets into some mischief, which causes his parents’ housekeeper to remark:
"You begin by killing a cat and you end by killing a man."
In time, Marcello becomes "abnormal and mysteriously imbued with guilt".
In a way, his guilt derives from a first cause or an original sin. He is deprived of his innocence as a teenager, although Christian doctrine would have it that we are all born guilty.
The Conformist Adult
Marcello’s life becomes a desire, a quest for normality, for redemption, for absolution.
He has a longing to be like everybody else. To be different would be to be guilty.
By the time we meet him 17 years later, he is "perfectly sure of himself, entirely masculine in his tastes and in his general attitude, calm, methodical to a fault, almost completely lacking in imagination, cool and self-controlled, reserved, always equable in temper, lacking in vivacity if not actually gloomy, silent, a sort of benumbed, grey normality".
Having obtained a job in the Italian Government, he embraces Franco’s Civil War against the Spanish Republican Government, wanting him to win "with a profound, tenacious desire, as though such a victory would provide confirmation of the goodness and rightness of his own tastes and ideas not merely in the political field but in all others as well."
He now has the conviction that he is right. He has built "a bond, a bridge, a symbol of attachment and communion" with the middle class, the conventional, the ordinary, the common, the modest, the reassuring, the complacent.
No longer is he "a solitary, an abnormal person, a mad man, he was one of them, a brother, a fellow-citizen, a comrade".
In other words, he is a Conformist. Only, his resemblance to other men is "deliberate and imitative rather than a result of a conformity of inclination". He is a fake Conformist.
The Non-Conformist Mentor
Marcello’s conformity allows him to turn around and focus his energies on Non-Conformists. He feels repugnance for any form of corruption or decadence, and he is compelled to banish abnormality, subversion and disorder:
"The possession of the truth did not merely permit, it also imposed, action. Action was a confirmation of one’s own normality that must be provided both for oneself and for others."
Marcello’s first target is Edmondo Quadri, formerly his Professor in History and Philosophy who has become a leader of the anti-Fascist movement and is living in exile in Paris.
Quadri is gentle, affectionate and persuasive, a father figure, if not quite Christ-like, the epitome of what the Fascist Party describes as a "negative, impotent intellectual", who, after years of passive opposition, has "passed from thought to action".
So effectively we have a conflict between two men who have been called to action for different, almost mirror image, reasons.
Quadri tries to save Italy and Europe from Fascism. Marcello, placed in a position where he must bet on one horse or another, is a Conformist in one sphere, but must seem like a Judas in the other. Only History can tell who will prevail.
The Correction
To say more, to discuss the themes of the novel any more deeply, is to risk spoilers.
However, ultimately, Marcello must confront and deal with his complicity in the political crimes of the era.
He realises that, even outside the context of the War and Fascism, he is not the only guilty one. We are all guilty. None of us is innocent:
"All of us have been innocent...and we all lose our innocence, one way or another; it’s the normal thing."
In other words, he learns that, all along, he was no less innocent than anyone else. He didn’t need to aspire to normality.
Equally importantly, while he has struggled to achieve perfect normality, he discovers that the truly normal "take the utmost liberties with normality itself."
Marcello realises that normality is fallacious, "merely a mask for inverted pride and self-esteem".
He should have aimed for authenticity, to be true to himself, instead.
The Innocent
As part of Marcello’s embrace of normality, he marries Giulia and soon learns that they have had a daughter. On the night of her conception, he says:
"I have loved, I have united myself with a woman and have begotten another human being."
While fate inevitably determines the course of Marcello’s own life and career, he learns too late, but on our behalf, that our children deserve a different life, one of "liveliness, caprice, grace, lightness, clarity, freshness, adventure."
This is the positive message that illuminates the darkness at the end of the novel. And it’s not a bad message.
Footnotes:
(1) After a while, I started to keep track of some of the key abstract terms used in the novel. Ultimately, the thriller aspect of the novel took over, and they didn’t stand out as much. But here are the ones that began, strangely enough, with "c" or "a":
(2) I've placed some topics for further consideration in My Writings. They contain spoilers.
http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/3...
August 10, 2017
دوستانِ گرانقدر، این داستان به نوعی به برنامه های فاشیستی ایتالیا و نوعِ افکار و عقایدِ فاشیستی اعضای آن پرداخته است
داستان در مورد جوانی به نامِ <مارچلو کلریچی> میباشد که دکتر است و در زمانِ کودکی شخصی قصد تجاوز به او را داشته و مارچلو به مرد متجاوز تیراندازی میکند و از آنجایی که تا پایانِ داستان تصور میکند که قتل انجام داده است، لذا همیشه خود را گناهکار میداند و لازم به ذکر است که به هیچ مذهب و دینی اعتقاد ندارد و حتی برای ازدواج هم حاضر نیست تا به کلیسا برود.. ولی نامزدش او را متقاعد میکند که نود درصد کسانی که به کلیسا میروند، دین را قبول ندارند و حتی خود کشیش ها نیز دین را قبول ندارند
... پدرش که او نیز دکتر میباشد، در تیمارستان بستری ش��ه است و مادرش تنها و با رانندهٔ ژاپنی خود زندگی میکند و معتاد به مورفین شده است... مارچلو خود را یک فاشیست میهن پرست میداند و در یکی از مأموریت هایش به او دستور میدهند که یکی از استادهای زمان دانشجویی خود که ضد فاشیست است و در فرانسه زندگی میکند را ترور کند
مارچلو با نامزدش جولیا ازدواج میکند و برای ماه عسل به پاریسِ فرانسه میرود تا به این بهانه به پروفسور لوکا کوادری نزدیک شده و کار ترور را به سرانجام برساند
امّا در این میان او عاشقِ زنِ زیبارویِ پروفسور یعنی آنا میشود که تفاوت سنی زیادی با پروفسور کوادری، استادِ مارچلو دارد
مارچلو به خاطرِ آنا از ته دل راضی به کشتن کوادری نیست.. امّا یکی از اعضای فاشیستی یعنی ماتگالینو به پاریس رفته تا چنانچه ترور انجام نشود، او کار ناتمام مارچلو را تمام کند
بهتر است خودتان این داستان را بخوانید و از سرانجام آن آگاه شوید و ببنید که احزاب گوناگون چگونه ذهن و خردِ انسانها را فاسد میکنند
در زیر برخی از جملاتِ این کتاب را به انتخاب برایتان مینویسم
********************
جولیا: مارچلو من لایقِ تو نیستم... من باکره نیستم
مارچلو: من با تو ازدواج کردم، چون دوستت دارم.. نه بخاطر اینکه باکره باشی
********************
مارچلو خطاب به کشیش: خداوند به این خوبی.. مریم به این مهربانی.. عیسی به آن بخشندگی و کشیش مملو از نیروی درک.... هیچکدام، هیچ کوششی برای بخششِ گناهان من نکردند... فقط و فقط تعجب و حیرت کردند
من نیازی به بخششِ دین و خدا ندارم... من میخواهم بخشش برایِ من از سویِ اجتماع و مردم باشد
********************
مارچلو خطاب به ایتالو مونتاناری: ایتالو، به نظرت یک انسانِ نرمال و طبیعی، چه طوری هستش؟
ایتالو: یک انسان طبیعی!! به نظرِ من یک انسان طبیعی کسی هستش که سرش را برای دیدنِ کونِ یک خانم بچرخونه..... مسئلهٔ اصلی چرخوندنِ سر نیست
چرخوندنِ سر، پنج الی شش دلیل داره
از پیدا کردنِ انسانهایی که مثلِ خودش هستن، لذت میبره... به همین خاطر دوست داره به ساحل هایِ شلوغ و زمینِ فوتبال و بارهایِ پایینِ شهر بره
اونهایی که شبیهش هستن را دوست داره و به اونهایی که باهاش فرق دارند اعتماد نمیکنه
به همین دلیل یک انسانِ طبیعی، یک برادرِ واقعی و یک همشهری واقعی و یک میهن پرستِ واقعی هستش
مارچلو: و یک فاشیستِ واقعی
********************
ماتگالینو: از نظرِ من، خائنین و یهودی ها، نامرد هستن... همشون از یک قماشند
اگر دستِ من بود، همهٔ آنها را زنده به گور میکردم
این کار لازمه... بعد از اینکه به دنیا اومدن، باید نابود بشن
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امیدوارم از خواندنِ این کتاب لذت ببرید
<پیروز باشید و ایرانی>
داستان در مورد جوانی به نامِ <مارچلو کلریچی> میباشد که دکتر است و در زمانِ کودکی شخصی قصد تجاوز به او را داشته و مارچلو به مرد متجاوز تیراندازی میکند و از آنجایی که تا پایانِ داستان تصور میکند که قتل انجام داده است، لذا همیشه خود را گناهکار میداند و لازم به ذکر است که به هیچ مذهب و دینی اعتقاد ندارد و حتی برای ازدواج هم حاضر نیست تا به کلیسا برود.. ولی نامزدش او را متقاعد میکند که نود درصد کسانی که به کلیسا میروند، دین را قبول ندارند و حتی خود کشیش ها نیز دین را قبول ندارند
... پدرش که او نیز دکتر میباشد، در تیمارستان بستری ش��ه است و مادرش تنها و با رانندهٔ ژاپنی خود زندگی میکند و معتاد به مورفین شده است... مارچلو خود را یک فاشیست میهن پرست میداند و در یکی از مأموریت هایش به او دستور میدهند که یکی از استادهای زمان دانشجویی خود که ضد فاشیست است و در فرانسه زندگی میکند را ترور کند
مارچلو با نامزدش جولیا ازدواج میکند و برای ماه عسل به پاریسِ فرانسه میرود تا به این بهانه به پروفسور لوکا کوادری نزدیک شده و کار ترور را به سرانجام برساند
امّا در این میان او عاشقِ زنِ زیبارویِ پروفسور یعنی آنا میشود که تفاوت سنی زیادی با پروفسور کوادری، استادِ مارچلو دارد
مارچلو به خاطرِ آنا از ته دل راضی به کشتن کوادری نیست.. امّا یکی از اعضای فاشیستی یعنی ماتگالینو به پاریس رفته تا چنانچه ترور انجام نشود، او کار ناتمام مارچلو را تمام کند
بهتر است خودتان این داستان را بخوانید و از سرانجام آن آگاه شوید و ببنید که احزاب گوناگون چگونه ذهن و خردِ انسانها را فاسد میکنند
در زیر برخی از جملاتِ این کتاب را به انتخاب برایتان مینویسم
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جولیا: مارچلو من لایقِ تو نیستم... من باکره نیستم
مارچلو: من با تو ازدواج کردم، چون دوستت دارم.. نه بخاطر اینکه باکره باشی
********************
مارچلو خطاب به کشیش: خداوند به این خوبی.. مریم به این مهربانی.. عیسی به آن بخشندگی و کشیش مملو از نیروی درک.... هیچکدام، هیچ کوششی برای بخششِ گناهان من نکردند... فقط و فقط تعجب و حیرت کردند
من نیازی به بخششِ دین و خدا ندارم... من میخواهم بخشش برایِ من از سویِ اجتماع و مردم باشد
********************
مارچلو خطاب به ایتالو مونتاناری: ایتالو، به نظرت یک انسانِ نرمال و طبیعی، چه طوری هستش؟
ایتالو: یک انسان طبیعی!! به نظرِ من یک انسان طبیعی کسی هستش که سرش را برای دیدنِ کونِ یک خانم بچرخونه..... مسئلهٔ اصلی چرخوندنِ سر نیست
چرخوندنِ سر، پنج الی شش دلیل داره
از پیدا کردنِ انسانهایی که مثلِ خودش هستن، لذت میبره... به همین خاطر دوست داره به ساحل هایِ شلوغ و زمینِ فوتبال و بارهایِ پایینِ شهر بره
اونهایی که شبیهش هستن را دوست داره و به اونهایی که باهاش فرق دارند اعتماد نمیکنه
به همین دلیل یک انسانِ طبیعی، یک برادرِ واقعی و یک همشهری واقعی و یک میهن پرستِ واقعی هستش
مارچلو: و یک فاشیستِ واقعی
********************
ماتگالینو: از نظرِ من، خائنین و یهودی ها، نامرد هستن... همشون از یک قماشند
اگر دستِ من بود، همهٔ آنها را زنده به گور میکردم
این کار لازمه... بعد از اینکه به دنیا اومدن، باید نابود بشن
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امیدوارم از خواندنِ این کتاب لذت ببرید
<پیروز باشید و ایرانی>
August 29, 2023
Tra la folla..
Una natura sadica che si palesa già nell'infanzia, una tendenza violenta e perversa.
Questo è il vero Marcello Clerici che da bambino impara a nascondere questa inclinazione malvagia.
Un desiderio spropositato di “normalità”.
Non è forse nascondendosi nella massa che i mostri passano inosservati?
Lavorare negli orari stabiliti, fidanzarsi, sposarsi, fare figli e, poi, in coincidenza, di un regime fascista che non ammette opposizioni, occorre anche partecipare agli intrighi delittuosi che ci vengono proposti.
Marcello non si sottrae a nulla purchè agli occhi degli altri sia come gli altri, uno tra i tanti fedeli allo stato e al regime.
Un romanzo che reitera quest’ansia del protagonista tanto da farcelo odiare per la sua ipocrita falsità.
Marcello è un prototipo che Moravia ci mostra in azione e ci dà l’idea di come, all’interno di una dittatura, soggetti del genere fossero perfettamente al loro posto.
Confondersi nella massa è qualcosa che può trasformarti in qualunque cosa gli altri vogliano vedere…
”Era un anello di più, come pensò, nella catena di normalità con la quale egli cercava di ancorarsi nelle sabbie infide della vita”
Una natura sadica che si palesa già nell'infanzia, una tendenza violenta e perversa.
Questo è il vero Marcello Clerici che da bambino impara a nascondere questa inclinazione malvagia.
Un desiderio spropositato di “normalità”.
Non è forse nascondendosi nella massa che i mostri passano inosservati?
Lavorare negli orari stabiliti, fidanzarsi, sposarsi, fare figli e, poi, in coincidenza, di un regime fascista che non ammette opposizioni, occorre anche partecipare agli intrighi delittuosi che ci vengono proposti.
Marcello non si sottrae a nulla purchè agli occhi degli altri sia come gli altri, uno tra i tanti fedeli allo stato e al regime.
Un romanzo che reitera quest’ansia del protagonista tanto da farcelo odiare per la sua ipocrita falsità.
Marcello è un prototipo che Moravia ci mostra in azione e ci dà l’idea di come, all’interno di una dittatura, soggetti del genere fossero perfettamente al loro posto.
Confondersi nella massa è qualcosa che può trasformarti in qualunque cosa gli altri vogliano vedere…
”Era un anello di più, come pensò, nella catena di normalità con la quale egli cercava di ancorarsi nelle sabbie infide della vita”
April 5, 2023
U prologu se Marčelo opisuje kao tankoćutno i ženskasto dete sa psihopatskim tendencijama. Spazivši svoje izopačenosti , podstaknut traumatičnim iskustvom, transformiše se, i u svojim tridesetim godinama on je potpuno drugačiji čovek. Uzoran građanin, uzoran fašista i uzoran muž. Marčelo po svaku cenu želi da bude normalan, da bude kao ostali, a šta je “normalno” odredilo je društvo toga doba. Savršeni konformista, uvek pomalo setan i tek povremeno svestan da je od sopstvene prirode i prošlosti nemoguće pobeći.
January 12, 2008
The obsession with normalcy was perhaps the greatest bane of the 20th century. As the world became smaller and vastly diverse people began to mix more and more, people became overly concerned with this idea of being "normal" - wearing the same clothes, living in similarly furnished homes, even smoking the same brand of cigarettes all of which bring the protagonist of this particular story a feeling of great relief that he is "normal" - that is until we see the devastation that "normal" brings about.
On the one hand, an obvious critique of fascism and the horrors that were brought about by people who just conformed and went with the party line. And on the other hand, this is a very fun read - a psycho-sexual, political thriller with amazing plot twists, turns and dramatic surprises. But there's so much more here. Moravia clearly wanted to explore just why people conform and gives us a complex, interesting character who is easy to find both repugnant and sympathetic.
I'm still reeling from the depth of ideas in this book.
On the one hand, an obvious critique of fascism and the horrors that were brought about by people who just conformed and went with the party line. And on the other hand, this is a very fun read - a psycho-sexual, political thriller with amazing plot twists, turns and dramatic surprises. But there's so much more here. Moravia clearly wanted to explore just why people conform and gives us a complex, interesting character who is easy to find both repugnant and sympathetic.
I'm still reeling from the depth of ideas in this book.
March 21, 2009
Powerful. Cold but with a glassy poetic feeling for the distances between the main character, the narrator, and the rest of the world. Tense and gripping and with an eerie stillness which really adds to the effect. Very Camus-esque, (Camusian?), very modernist, very severely seen work of art.
I'm not quite sure whether to rank it as better or worse than the movie, because Bertollucci was rather faithful to the plot, but even so they do seem to branch out in distinctly different dimensions. The endings are totally different but each one is moving and disturbing in its own way.
It's simply not true that the book is usually better than the movie. People say that, I think, so as to sound more literate and sophisticated than need be. Here, it's a toss-up, maybe (just maybe) with a slight edge to the film.
But this is definitely uncompromising and intelligently provocative and casually perverse and coolly subversive and worth any ranking of the top 100 world novels of the Century.
Italian fascism as seen through the eyes of a petit bourgeois who has a Mersault-like fascination with nothingness and tries to fill his empty suit with the cold comforts of a country which is going to the dogs. Violence, weaponry, sexual shame, are all bubbling quietly but forcefully below his placid and rather ordinary exterior. Jesus, if that's what one guy's thinking, how many more can there be?
I'm going to have to read some more Moravia in the future. Godard's 'Contempt' was boss....here we go again....
February 22, 2017
How do you write a review if you are left speechless?
I have no idea.
All I know is that I need another dose of Moravia before the withdrawal symptoms suck the life out of me.
I have no idea.
All I know is that I need another dose of Moravia before the withdrawal symptoms suck the life out of me.
March 7, 2025
kitap boyunca marcello’nun kendini toplumun çizdiği sınırlar içinde hapsolmuş bulması, bizi benzer sorularla baş başa bırakıyor. topluma uyum sağlama arzusu, birçok insanın günlük hayatta deneyimlediği baskıların bir temsili gibi.
moravia, kitapta marcello’nun çocukluk travmalarını derinlemesine işleyerek bu travmaların gelecekteki seçimlerine nasıl yön verdiğini gösterir. kitabın sonlarına doğru marcello, içsel yolculuğunda sıradan olma arzusuyla başladığı yolda gerçek benliğiyle yüzleşir, bu yüzleşmeyle belki de onun tüm yaşamını sıradanlık peşinde geçirmesinin ardında yatan gerçekliği de gün yüzüne çıkar. moravia bize marcello’nun sıradanlık ve toplumla uyum sağlama yolculuğuyla her birimizin içindeki çatışmaları bir ayna gibi yansıtıyor.
kitap, bir okur olarak beni de bu 'uyum sağlama' girdabına çekip düşündürdü..
moravia, kitapta marcello’nun çocukluk travmalarını derinlemesine işleyerek bu travmaların gelecekteki seçimlerine nasıl yön verdiğini gösterir. kitabın sonlarına doğru marcello, içsel yolculuğunda sıradan olma arzusuyla başladığı yolda gerçek benliğiyle yüzleşir, bu yüzleşmeyle belki de onun tüm yaşamını sıradanlık peşinde geçirmesinin ardında yatan gerçekliği de gün yüzüne çıkar. moravia bize marcello’nun sıradanlık ve toplumla uyum sağlama yolculuğuyla her birimizin içindeki çatışmaları bir ayna gibi yansıtıyor.
kitap, bir okur olarak beni de bu 'uyum sağlama' girdabına çekip düşündürdü..
August 16, 2020
“Normallik arzusuydu, kabul gören genel bir kurala uyma hevesiydi, farklı olmak suçlu olmak anlamına geldiğine göre başkalarına benzeme isteğiydi.”
Çocukluğundan başlayan bir şiddete eğilim ve anormal eğilimlerini kontrol altında tutmaya çalışan, normalliği bir saplantı haline getirmiş bir adamın hikayesi. Ancak hikaye oldukça farklı bir bakış açısından örülüyor, bir noktada normal olmak, geriye kalan, basit ve son derece insani bir yere ait olma özleminin insanı nasıl “bir sürüye ait olma” ihtiyacına yönlendirebileceğine dair ilginç bir yaklaşıma sahip. Zira bireylerin neden faşist, milliyetçi, ırkçı ideolojilere ilgi duyduğunun açıklamasına alternatif bir bakış açısı sunuyor. Farklı ve sürükleyici.
“... annesinin iyilik adını verdiği şey onun anormalliği, yani kopukluğu, sıradan hayattan uzak durması mıydı? ‘Normal insanlar iyi değil.’ diye düşündü yine, çünkü normalliğin bilinçli olsun olmasın duyarsızlık, aptallık, korkaklık hatta canilik gibi hepsi olumsuz çeşitli suç ortaklıkları yoluyla daima ağır bir bedeli oluyordu.”
August 19, 2019
One of several brilliant novels by Moravia
The Conformist is a psychologically complex novelistic study of an Italian fascist, although not necessarily a typical fascist, done in an existential style with intense interior monologues and introspection by Alberto Moravia's protagonist, Marcello Clerici.
No doubt Moravia intended Marcello as the conformist, but ironically it is his wife Giulia who nearly always conforms to what is considered normal behavior and who harbors uncritically knee jerk beliefs and opinions formed by church and state. In fact, that is part of the reason he married her. In contrast, Marcello struggles mightily with what he considers his abnormal tendencies. As a child he killed lizards for sport as any boy might, but felt uneasy about the wanton slaughter, and so sought from a friend and his mother some indication that killing lizards was okay. Later he kills a cat, although this is mostly accidental, and as a young teenager shots a homosexual limo driver named Lino. He feels something akin to consternation for these actions, not guilt exactly, but an unease since doing such things is not what he thinks normal people do.
It is his need to be--or at least to appear--"normal" that drives Marcello to conform to society's mores and persuades him to embrace fascism. He only feels really at ease when he sees himself as part of the common herd, on the installment plan, buying ordinary furniture, living in an apartment like a thousand others, having a wife and children, reading the newspapers, going to work, etc. He is not a peasant of course, but an educated functionary in the Italian Secret Service, a man with impeccable manners who seldom says more than is absolutely necessary.
The idea that fascists in general follow the herd and adopt a superficial and uncultured world view is no doubt largely correct, but the essence of fascism is the belief in authoritarian rule, the stratification of society, intolerance of diversity, and a willingness, even an eagerness to use force and violence to obtain such ends. The psychology underlying Moravia's portrait is the idea that Marcello sees in himself the violent and selfish tendencies and so it is only natural that he should adopt a political philosophy that condones and acts out such tendencies.
Moravia treats fascism in the person of Marcello more kindly than I believe he imagined he would when he began the novel, given Moravia's hatred of the fascist movement that seduced much of Europe following the First World War. But this is the necessary consequence of being an objective novelist. In drawing a living, breathing portrait of Marcello, Moravia allows us to see him as a complex person with strengths and weaknesses who deals with the trials of life sometimes in a despicable way, and sometimes, indeed often, in a way that most of us would choose were we in his shoes. Therefore it is impossible not to identify with him to some degree. It is an artifact of Moravia's artistry that we do in fact in the end identify with Marcello and may even realize that in his situation, we too might have embraced fascism or at least tolerated it.
A secondary theme in the novel is that of unrequited love or of desire that is not returned. All of the main characters, Marcello, Lino, Giulia, Quadri and Lina love someone who does not return their love. Marcello briefly falls madly in love with Lina who is a lesbian who despises him. Lina in turn is desperately in love with Giulia who only has eyes for her husband, who does not really love her. The inability of the characters to love the one who loves them is played out partly through a disparity in personality and political belief, and partly through differing sexuality. Lino and his latter-day incarnation in an old British homosexual who drives around Paris picking up indigent young men seldom if ever find their love returned although they might temporarily quench their desire. No one in the novel experiences love both in the giving and the receiving.
Part of Marcello's unease with himself comes from his ambivalent sexuality. He cannot return the intense passion that Giulia feels for him although apparently he does manage to perform his husbandly duties adequately. Perhaps even more to the point, he seems to project a need for the "abnormal" experience. He is twice mistaken for a homosexual, and he falls in love with a homosexual of the opposite sex--thus the "Lino" and the "Lina" of his life. Marcello seems to have a blindness about invert sexuality just as he has a blindness about human morality. He is a man who does not what he thinks is right but what others think is right. He fears his natural impulses. Moravia illustrates this by occasionally having him nearly give into what he feels inside, as in the case of Lina, only to have him realize that to act from his heart is dangerous.
In the final analysis Marcello finds that "the normality that he had sought after with such tenacity for so many years...was now revealed as a purely external thing entirely made up of abnormalities" (quote from near the beginning of Chapter Nineteen).
Moravia (born Alberto Pincherle) is in my opinion one of the great novelists of the 20th century and The Conformist is representative of his best work. Incidentally this was made into a beautiful film by Bernardo Bertolucci while not entirely true to the novel, is nonetheless very much worth seeing.
--Dennis Littrell, author of the mystery novel, “Teddy and Teri”
The Conformist is a psychologically complex novelistic study of an Italian fascist, although not necessarily a typical fascist, done in an existential style with intense interior monologues and introspection by Alberto Moravia's protagonist, Marcello Clerici.
No doubt Moravia intended Marcello as the conformist, but ironically it is his wife Giulia who nearly always conforms to what is considered normal behavior and who harbors uncritically knee jerk beliefs and opinions formed by church and state. In fact, that is part of the reason he married her. In contrast, Marcello struggles mightily with what he considers his abnormal tendencies. As a child he killed lizards for sport as any boy might, but felt uneasy about the wanton slaughter, and so sought from a friend and his mother some indication that killing lizards was okay. Later he kills a cat, although this is mostly accidental, and as a young teenager shots a homosexual limo driver named Lino. He feels something akin to consternation for these actions, not guilt exactly, but an unease since doing such things is not what he thinks normal people do.
It is his need to be--or at least to appear--"normal" that drives Marcello to conform to society's mores and persuades him to embrace fascism. He only feels really at ease when he sees himself as part of the common herd, on the installment plan, buying ordinary furniture, living in an apartment like a thousand others, having a wife and children, reading the newspapers, going to work, etc. He is not a peasant of course, but an educated functionary in the Italian Secret Service, a man with impeccable manners who seldom says more than is absolutely necessary.
The idea that fascists in general follow the herd and adopt a superficial and uncultured world view is no doubt largely correct, but the essence of fascism is the belief in authoritarian rule, the stratification of society, intolerance of diversity, and a willingness, even an eagerness to use force and violence to obtain such ends. The psychology underlying Moravia's portrait is the idea that Marcello sees in himself the violent and selfish tendencies and so it is only natural that he should adopt a political philosophy that condones and acts out such tendencies.
Moravia treats fascism in the person of Marcello more kindly than I believe he imagined he would when he began the novel, given Moravia's hatred of the fascist movement that seduced much of Europe following the First World War. But this is the necessary consequence of being an objective novelist. In drawing a living, breathing portrait of Marcello, Moravia allows us to see him as a complex person with strengths and weaknesses who deals with the trials of life sometimes in a despicable way, and sometimes, indeed often, in a way that most of us would choose were we in his shoes. Therefore it is impossible not to identify with him to some degree. It is an artifact of Moravia's artistry that we do in fact in the end identify with Marcello and may even realize that in his situation, we too might have embraced fascism or at least tolerated it.
A secondary theme in the novel is that of unrequited love or of desire that is not returned. All of the main characters, Marcello, Lino, Giulia, Quadri and Lina love someone who does not return their love. Marcello briefly falls madly in love with Lina who is a lesbian who despises him. Lina in turn is desperately in love with Giulia who only has eyes for her husband, who does not really love her. The inability of the characters to love the one who loves them is played out partly through a disparity in personality and political belief, and partly through differing sexuality. Lino and his latter-day incarnation in an old British homosexual who drives around Paris picking up indigent young men seldom if ever find their love returned although they might temporarily quench their desire. No one in the novel experiences love both in the giving and the receiving.
Part of Marcello's unease with himself comes from his ambivalent sexuality. He cannot return the intense passion that Giulia feels for him although apparently he does manage to perform his husbandly duties adequately. Perhaps even more to the point, he seems to project a need for the "abnormal" experience. He is twice mistaken for a homosexual, and he falls in love with a homosexual of the opposite sex--thus the "Lino" and the "Lina" of his life. Marcello seems to have a blindness about invert sexuality just as he has a blindness about human morality. He is a man who does not what he thinks is right but what others think is right. He fears his natural impulses. Moravia illustrates this by occasionally having him nearly give into what he feels inside, as in the case of Lina, only to have him realize that to act from his heart is dangerous.
In the final analysis Marcello finds that "the normality that he had sought after with such tenacity for so many years...was now revealed as a purely external thing entirely made up of abnormalities" (quote from near the beginning of Chapter Nineteen).
Moravia (born Alberto Pincherle) is in my opinion one of the great novelists of the 20th century and The Conformist is representative of his best work. Incidentally this was made into a beautiful film by Bernardo Bertolucci while not entirely true to the novel, is nonetheless very much worth seeing.
--Dennis Littrell, author of the mystery novel, “Teddy and Teri”
March 16, 2008
A macabre bildungsroman of man who realizes in early childhood that life is con; a troubling portrait a lá Camus or Dostoeyvsky. Spare prose but a rich text filled with doublings and odd encounters all filtered through Marcello’s (the narrator and titular character) disturbed viewpoint. An enigmatic and sudden ending leaves many questions. The amount of questions and concerns this book still raises illustrates why Moravia doesn’t consider this merely an Anti-fascism book or label it with any other isms; and I agree, this is one for always.
January 28, 2019
Etkileyici bir konu, kurgu ve dile sahip bir eser.
Özellikle insan psikolojisi yanı sıra İtalyan siyasi dönemlerini de ele alışıyla kalbimi fethetti.
İlk başlarda verdiği intibası ile kitabın ilerleyen kısımları tamamen bambaşka sabırla ilerlemek gerekiyor.
Marcelloyu ve hikayesini seveceksiniz diyor ve tavsiye ediyorum!
Özellikle insan psikolojisi yanı sıra İtalyan siyasi dönemlerini de ele alışıyla kalbimi fethetti.
İlk başlarda verdiği intibası ile kitabın ilerleyen kısımları tamamen bambaşka sabırla ilerlemek gerekiyor.
Marcelloyu ve hikayesini seveceksiniz diyor ve tavsiye ediyorum!
March 23, 2022
Il 'conformista' è la storia di Marcello Clerici e della sua spasmodica ricerca della più normale e comune delle vite possibili: fin da bambino, egli cerca di reprimere qualsiasi istinto, caratteristica o desiderio che possa farlo apparire come fuori dalla norma; la sua esistenza è dominata dal bisogno di essere uguale agli altri, di sentirsi accettato, di conformarsi e confondersi perfettamente con gli altri.
Come sempre, Moravia si rivela un vero e proprio maestro nel rappresentare l'uomo e la società novecentesca; in particolare, 'Il conformista' si rivela anche un approfondimento dell'Italia del periodo fascista e della mentalità dominante dell'epoca.
I personaggi, in perfetto stile Moravia, sono detestabili, meschini, apatici, poco risoluti: la vita sembra scorrere e loro vengono trascinati da essa.
Un romanzo che a tratti risulta anche sgradevole da leggere, ma che, allo stesso tempo, invita a profonde riflessioni su quanto la nostra società ci imponga di conformarsi ad essa e su come ciascuno di noi sia vittima del conformismo.
Come sempre, Moravia si rivela un vero e proprio maestro nel rappresentare l'uomo e la società novecentesca; in particolare, 'Il conformista' si rivela anche un approfondimento dell'Italia del periodo fascista e della mentalità dominante dell'epoca.
I personaggi, in perfetto stile Moravia, sono detestabili, meschini, apatici, poco risoluti: la vita sembra scorrere e loro vengono trascinati da essa.
Un romanzo che a tratti risulta anche sgradevole da leggere, ma che, allo stesso tempo, invita a profonde riflessioni su quanto la nostra società ci imponga di conformarsi ad essa e su come ciascuno di noi sia vittima del conformismo.
June 18, 2021
An excellent work. As fresh and as engaging as it must have been when first published a lifetime ago. The detailed depiction of a character and how that person (and others) connect with society with a simpatia of ideas, of ideals, could apply to any ideologically focused culture, but here it is Italian fascism. You know it is going to end badly, and, somehow, so do those committed to the creed – they just expect too much in return for the sins of their commitment. Was it, is it not ever so?
January 14, 2008
I read this for Kimley's film group, and it's one fantastic can't put down novel. Which is typical Alberto Moravia when you come to think of it.
In a nutshell I think the book is about the psychological make-up of a typical Fascist. Italian style of course! On one level it's a story about a Govt. official who wants to be normal, whatever that means. I think he realizes that 'normal' is quite ab-normal. But of course he's too late in learning that lesson. Nevertheless a remarkable book, which will turn my head around when I go to sleep tonight. Lots of incredible parts and scenes in this novel. I want to give this novel six stars!
In a nutshell I think the book is about the psychological make-up of a typical Fascist. Italian style of course! On one level it's a story about a Govt. official who wants to be normal, whatever that means. I think he realizes that 'normal' is quite ab-normal. But of course he's too late in learning that lesson. Nevertheless a remarkable book, which will turn my head around when I go to sleep tonight. Lots of incredible parts and scenes in this novel. I want to give this novel six stars!
September 3, 2023
Konformist je duboka studija lika Marcella Celericija, njegovih unutarnjih demona i očajničkih pokušaja da pobjegne od istih.
Nakon što tragični događaj odredi njegovo djetinjstvo, Marcello, kriveći sebe, provodi svoje zrele godine bježeći od svoje prirode. Pokušava voditi normalan život, prilagođava se okolini, ne želi se isticati ni po čemu...
Smatra da sa sebe može isprati ljagu samo ako učini nešto za opću dobrobit, za sveukupni cilj svoje ideologije. Tako se ponudi svojim nadređenima da pođe u francusku i ubije antifašističkog lidera, inače svog bivšeg profesora.
Na kraju se taj čin ispostavi nevrijednim, shvativši da je profesorova smrt bila uzaludna i nanjela više štete nego koristi. Marcello shvaća da je nemoguće pobjeći od svoje prirode te da gdje god on pošao, nosi sebe sa sobom...
Marcello je dosta promišljen, povučen i hladan tip, osjeća duboko gađenje prema bilo kakvom odstupanju od norme...
Ne govori puno i ne voli interakcije sa ljudima, tako puno puta kroz djelo odluči ne reći ništa na odgovor sugovornicima. Na trenutke je impulzivne naravi, ima učestale promjene raspoloženja i živi u konstantnom strahu da ga netko ne otkrije za ono što zapravo jest.
Odnos sa roditeljima mu je katastrofalan što nije njegova krivnja. Otac mu je potpuni luđak koji par godina živi u mentalnoj ustanovi, u djetinjstvu je imao učestale ispade na njegovu majku, nasilne je prirode. Marcello se boji da je ludilo nasljedno i da je svoje mane pokupio upravo od njega, najveći strah mu je da ne završi kao on.
Majka mu je sa druge strane nježna, osjećajna, ali istrošena godinama provedenim u nezdravom okruženju, fizički oronula i mršava. Marcello osijeća gađenje prema njoj, a ne pomaže to da ima učestale ljubavne afere.
Marcellova žena, Giulia, je vrlo ženstvena, osjećajna i tradicionalna žena. Ona je, međutim, za Marcella bila samo sredstvo kojim će postići veći stupanj normalnosti. Nije je volio, dapače bio je spreman ostaviti već na bračnom putovanju u Parizu. Giulia je, s druge strane obožavala Marcella, on je bio njen spasitelj, sve što je sanjala u životu.
Pratila bi ga u svemu što učini i na svaki kraj svijeta bi pošla za njim da mora. Žudila je za njim, što on njoj nije mogao vratiti, ni približno.
Ključni događaj ove priče je slučaj u Marcellovom djetinjstvu gdje je skoro bio seksualno napastovan od jednog vozača imena Lino. U Linovoj sobi, gdje ga je on planirao silovati, Marcello se domogao pištolja i ubio ga.
Tako je bar mislio 20 godina. Od tog trenutka je neprestano bježao od samog sebe, gurao svoju prošlost pod tepih, živio pod sjenom... Trenutak kada je Marcello susreo Lina po svršetku rata, donio mu je svojevrsni mir i olakšanje. Lino je tada rekao rečenicu koja se Marcellu urezala u pamćenje: "svi mi gubimo našu nevinost, na ovaj ili onaj način: to je normalnost."
Koga zanima na ovu priču je snimljen i film u režiji Bernarda Bertoluccija i definitivno zavrijeđuje pažnju.
9.7/10
I.J.
Nakon što tragični događaj odredi njegovo djetinjstvo, Marcello, kriveći sebe, provodi svoje zrele godine bježeći od svoje prirode. Pokušava voditi normalan život, prilagođava se okolini, ne želi se isticati ni po čemu...
Smatra da sa sebe može isprati ljagu samo ako učini nešto za opću dobrobit, za sveukupni cilj svoje ideologije. Tako se ponudi svojim nadređenima da pođe u francusku i ubije antifašističkog lidera, inače svog bivšeg profesora.
Na kraju se taj čin ispostavi nevrijednim, shvativši da je profesorova smrt bila uzaludna i nanjela više štete nego koristi. Marcello shvaća da je nemoguće pobjeći od svoje prirode te da gdje god on pošao, nosi sebe sa sobom...
Marcello je dosta promišljen, povučen i hladan tip, osjeća duboko gađenje prema bilo kakvom odstupanju od norme...
Ne govori puno i ne voli interakcije sa ljudima, tako puno puta kroz djelo odluči ne reći ništa na odgovor sugovornicima. Na trenutke je impulzivne naravi, ima učestale promjene raspoloženja i živi u konstantnom strahu da ga netko ne otkrije za ono što zapravo jest.
Odnos sa roditeljima mu je katastrofalan što nije njegova krivnja. Otac mu je potpuni luđak koji par godina živi u mentalnoj ustanovi, u djetinjstvu je imao učestale ispade na njegovu majku, nasilne je prirode. Marcello se boji da je ludilo nasljedno i da je svoje mane pokupio upravo od njega, najveći strah mu je da ne završi kao on.
Majka mu je sa druge strane nježna, osjećajna, ali istrošena godinama provedenim u nezdravom okruženju, fizički oronula i mršava. Marcello osijeća gađenje prema njoj, a ne pomaže to da ima učestale ljubavne afere.
Marcellova žena, Giulia, je vrlo ženstvena, osjećajna i tradicionalna žena. Ona je, međutim, za Marcella bila samo sredstvo kojim će postići veći stupanj normalnosti. Nije je volio, dapače bio je spreman ostaviti već na bračnom putovanju u Parizu. Giulia je, s druge strane obožavala Marcella, on je bio njen spasitelj, sve što je sanjala u životu.
Pratila bi ga u svemu što učini i na svaki kraj svijeta bi pošla za njim da mora. Žudila je za njim, što on njoj nije mogao vratiti, ni približno.
Ključni događaj ove priče je slučaj u Marcellovom djetinjstvu gdje je skoro bio seksualno napastovan od jednog vozača imena Lino. U Linovoj sobi, gdje ga je on planirao silovati, Marcello se domogao pištolja i ubio ga.
Tako je bar mislio 20 godina. Od tog trenutka je neprestano bježao od samog sebe, gurao svoju prošlost pod tepih, živio pod sjenom... Trenutak kada je Marcello susreo Lina po svršetku rata, donio mu je svojevrsni mir i olakšanje. Lino je tada rekao rečenicu koja se Marcellu urezala u pamćenje: "svi mi gubimo našu nevinost, na ovaj ili onaj način: to je normalnost."
Koga zanima na ovu priču je snimljen i film u režiji Bernarda Bertoluccija i definitivno zavrijeđuje pažnju.
9.7/10
I.J.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 12, 2024
Il conformista, apparentemente, è più cose: la storia di un viaggio di nozze a Parigi; quella di un delitto di stato; la biografia di un uomo; la descrizione di un'epoca e di una società. Ma, a ben guardare, questo romanzo è soprattutto il ritratto di un personaggio e di un atteggiamento morale caratteristici del nostro tempo: il conformista e il conformismo. L'eroe del secolo passato era il ribelle, ossia l'uomo che vuole distinguersi, contrapporsi, essere diverso dagli altri; secondo Moravia, l'eroe del nostro tempo è invece il conformista, ossia l'uomo che vuole confondersi, comunicare, essere uguale agli altri.
Voler essere come tutti gli altri per avere la vita perfetta. Marcello ci riesce. E' una spinta più che esterna, interna, un'idea che gli è chiara già dalla prima giovinezza. Grottesco: un bambino che nella sua presunta purezza è già corrotto nella mente. Una riflessione che dalle mie parti si dice ti faccia venire il mal di stomaco.
Per il resto della sua vita poi beh... Fa quello che fanno tutti. Il conformarsi è una specie di inconscia ossessione, Marcello è un attento osservatore che studia la massa per diventarne la cellula migliore, per omologarsi il più perfettamente possibile.
Anche l'adesione al partito fascista diventa un'azione dettata da una "moda": era il partito più in vista allora si è iscritto pure lui, non totalmente consapevole dell'ideologia. Del resto... Cosa può importare di un'ideologia malata quando tutti sono infetti? Il suo compito all'interno è quello della spia: cerca le anomalie del sistema e deve distruggerle. Un professore comunista a Parigi è il suo obiettivo ma del resto questo professore non è nemmeno la sua prima vittima...
Un romanzo dimenticato in un'epoca che ha un disperato bisogno di una letteratura di questo genere. Siamo felici solo se siamo come gli altri e il diverso va isolato perché è portatore di un'idea infetta. Se l'idea si diffonde il pericolo è che ognuno pensi con la propria testa: la nascita di una società di anarchia del pensiero. Nulla di più pericoloso.
Per Moravia il fascismo e la vicenda di Marcello sono solo un pretesto per parlare di qualcosa che è tremendamente odierno e abbiamo sotto il naso (dentro il cervello) tutti i giorni.
Voler essere come tutti gli altri per avere la vita perfetta. Marcello ci riesce. E' una spinta più che esterna, interna, un'idea che gli è chiara già dalla prima giovinezza. Grottesco: un bambino che nella sua presunta purezza è già corrotto nella mente. Una riflessione che dalle mie parti si dice ti faccia venire il mal di stomaco.
Per il resto della sua vita poi beh... Fa quello che fanno tutti. Il conformarsi è una specie di inconscia ossessione, Marcello è un attento osservatore che studia la massa per diventarne la cellula migliore, per omologarsi il più perfettamente possibile.
Anche l'adesione al partito fascista diventa un'azione dettata da una "moda": era il partito più in vista allora si è iscritto pure lui, non totalmente consapevole dell'ideologia. Del resto... Cosa può importare di un'ideologia malata quando tutti sono infetti? Il suo compito all'interno è quello della spia: cerca le anomalie del sistema e deve distruggerle. Un professore comunista a Parigi è il suo obiettivo ma del resto questo professore non è nemmeno la sua prima vittima...
Un romanzo dimenticato in un'epoca che ha un disperato bisogno di una letteratura di questo genere. Siamo felici solo se siamo come gli altri e il diverso va isolato perché è portatore di un'idea infetta. Se l'idea si diffonde il pericolo è che ognuno pensi con la propria testa: la nascita di una società di anarchia del pensiero. Nulla di più pericoloso.
Per Moravia il fascismo e la vicenda di Marcello sono solo un pretesto per parlare di qualcosa che è tremendamente odierno e abbiamo sotto il naso (dentro il cervello) tutti i giorni.
April 25, 2025
"Come sei strano," ella disse guardandolo quasi con curiosità, "tutti vorrebbero essere diversi da tutti... e tu invece si direbbe che ci tieni ad essere come tutti."
Quando si assegnano 5 stelle ad un libro si dovrebbe supporre che questo sia perfetto... Ebbene, Il conformista, a livello narrativo è tutt'altro che perfetto e infatti
vi ho trovato diverse scelte di trama molto discutibili (soprattutto sul finale),
la perfezione però sta nella prosa di Moravia e nel modo in cui riesce a descrivere in modo ineccepibile lo stato d'animo, anzi gli stati d'animo, dell'epoca...
Che poi mi domando... Ma questi stati d'animo non sono un po' sempre gli stessi di oggi?
Ho letto da qualche parte che questa sarebbe l'opera peggiore di Moravia... Quindi mi rallegro nel pensare quali altri capolavori potrò leggere!
Quando si assegnano 5 stelle ad un libro si dovrebbe supporre che questo sia perfetto... Ebbene, Il conformista, a livello narrativo è tutt'altro che perfetto e infatti
vi ho trovato diverse scelte di trama molto discutibili (soprattutto sul finale),
la perfezione però sta nella prosa di Moravia e nel modo in cui riesce a descrivere in modo ineccepibile lo stato d'animo, anzi gli stati d'animo, dell'epoca...
Che poi mi domando... Ma questi stati d'animo non sono un po' sempre gli stessi di oggi?
Ho letto da qualche parte che questa sarebbe l'opera peggiore di Moravia... Quindi mi rallegro nel pensare quali altri capolavori potrò leggere!
March 2, 2018
نمایشنامه ی دنباله رو نمایشنامه ای است سیاسی که تمرکز آن بیشتر بر روی مضمون خانواده و ریشههای انحرافی بورژوازی فاشیسم است.
آسیبشناسی و ذات بیمار فاشیستها از بنیان خانواده مارچلو شروع میشود و درمقاطع مختلف زندگی او هم ادامه مییابد. ابتدا ما را با خانواده افسار گسیخته و بی در و پیکر مارچلو آشنا میکند. مادری که به اخلاقیات پایبند نیست و پدری شکنجه گر که در تیمارستان بستری است. خود مارچلو اعتراف می کند که از هیجده سالگی انحراف اخلاقی را آغاز کرده است و جالب اش اینجاست که به کشیش می گوید این یک زندگی معمولی است.
نمایشنامه هم چنین به جایگاه مذهب در دنیای کثیف قدرت و سیاست اشاره میکند که حضوری تزئینی و جلوهای مسخره در جهان اثر مییابد. سیاستی که از مذهب سو استفاده کرده تا بر مردم تاثیر بیشتری گذارد. همانگونه ک جولیا به مارچلو گوشزد کردهبود که: ”نود درصد مردمی که به کلیسا میرن اعتقاد ندارند. حتی خود کشیشها"
"دنباله رو" ، داستانی است که شاید بتوان آن را برداشت فیلسوفانه ای از جنایت و مکافات دانست. مارچلو با استادش درباره فلسفه افلاطون درباره جهان گفتگو می کند . او می گوید این دنیا سایه ایی بیش نیست و ما درون غاری گرفتاریم و انسان آگاه کسی است که از این غار بیرون برود مطابق تمثیل، استاد از غار بیرون رفته است اما مارچلو همچنان در غار دست و پاهایش غل و زنجیر است.
مارچلو مردی سست اراده است که می خواهد با دیگران قاطی شود. او تصمیم می گیرد که یک آدمکش فاشیست باشد و با یک زن ماتریالیستی خرده بورژوا ازدواج کند (به قول خود او این زن فقط در اتاق خواب و آشپزخانه کارش را خوب انجام می دهد!)؛ او این کار ها را نه به خاطر تعهد سیاسی و نه به خاطر شهوت انجام می دهد بلکه به این دلیل که (ظاهراً) یک راز شرم آور را پیش خود پنهان کرده است. دلیل اینکه از روی استیصال در فکر دنباله روی است این است که می فهمد با دیگران متفاوت است ولی هرگز تفاوت خود را نمی پذیرد.
موراویا سبک روایتگری خاص خودش را دارد. رمانها و داستانهای بلند او همواره با رویکردی تراژیک نوشته میشوند.
June 1, 2019
La ricerca della normalità che fin dall'infanzia ossessiona Marcello, il protagonista di questo romanzo, lo porta a compiere scelte umane e politiche indifendibili, oggi, ma non così difficili da immaginare se si considera il momento storico in cui le vicende sono ambientate, il ventennio fascista.
Eppure la grandezza del libro sta nel fatto che mette a nudo un tipo umano senza tempo: colui il quale si sente sbagliato ma, invece di migliorare o accettarsi, rinuncia a ragionare con la sua testa o ad agire in base a quello che sente davvero per rifugiarsi nella consuetudine, nella morale comune e, nel caso di Marcello, nel regime.
È una storia triste, deprimente, che prosciuga per quanto è diretta nel mostrare lo squallore delle vite dei personaggi, tutti a loro modo detestabili.
La scena finale, fortemente simbolica, forse è un po' esagerata, ma è l'unico appunto che mi viene da fare a un romanzo che mi ha colpito tantissimo.
Eppure la grandezza del libro sta nel fatto che mette a nudo un tipo umano senza tempo: colui il quale si sente sbagliato ma, invece di migliorare o accettarsi, rinuncia a ragionare con la sua testa o ad agire in base a quello che sente davvero per rifugiarsi nella consuetudine, nella morale comune e, nel caso di Marcello, nel regime.
È una storia triste, deprimente, che prosciuga per quanto è diretta nel mostrare lo squallore delle vite dei personaggi, tutti a loro modo detestabili.
La scena finale, fortemente simbolica, forse è un po' esagerata, ma è l'unico appunto che mi viene da fare a un romanzo che mi ha colpito tantissimo.
April 25, 2024
Replicando lo stile di Wu Ming nella fascetta di Altai - Una boiata, proprio come Q (Libero) - per Il conformista proporrei una selezione dei giudizi ricevuti in tempi in cui la critica era viva e frequentata da intellettuali di prestigio: Infelice e macchinoso per Sanguineti, Sbagliato per Parise, Il peggiore scritto da Moravia per Del Buono.
Tra i suoi imperdibili.
[84/100]
Tra i suoi imperdibili.
[84/100]
May 27, 2025
Incominciato e lasciato tempo fa, ho potuto apprezzarlo molto di più ricominciadolo da capo questa volta (mi erano sfuggiti un sacco di passaggi splendidi, prontamente sottolineati e impressi nella memoria).
Continuo a preferire la prima metà alla seconda e, avendolo letto integralmente questa volta, ho trovato conferma di una volontà di ripetitività e "didascalicità" che non apprezzo solitamente nei libri e che avevo notato anche ad una prima lettura.
In compenso però, ho potuto soffermarmi di più anche su dettagli che mi hanno fatto molto apprezzare la scrittura di Moravia (prima opera sua che leggo!!), come le immagine create grazie alle frequenti similitudini:
"Nel tempo della fanciullezza, Marcello era affascinato fagli oggetti come una gazza"
Incipit stupendo
Nel complesso sono soddisfatta della lettura, penso che leggerò altro dell'autore e forse, in futuro, tornerò a questo libro per scavare ancora un po più a fondo.
Continuo a preferire la prima metà alla seconda e, avendolo letto integralmente questa volta, ho trovato conferma di una volontà di ripetitività e "didascalicità" che non apprezzo solitamente nei libri e che avevo notato anche ad una prima lettura.
In compenso però, ho potuto soffermarmi di più anche su dettagli che mi hanno fatto molto apprezzare la scrittura di Moravia (prima opera sua che leggo!!), come le immagine create grazie alle frequenti similitudini:
"Nel tempo della fanciullezza, Marcello era affascinato fagli oggetti come una gazza"
Incipit stupendo
Nel complesso sono soddisfatta della lettura, penso che leggerò altro dell'autore e forse, in futuro, tornerò a questo libro per scavare ancora un po più a fondo.
March 30, 2020
“In questo mondo balenante e oscuro, simile ad un crepuscolo tempestoso, queste figure ambigue di uomini donne e di donne uomini che si incrociavano raddoppiando e mescolando la loro ambiguità, sembravano alludere ad un significato anch’esso ambiguo, legato, tuttavia, come gli pareva, al suo destino e alla comprovata impossibilità di uscirne”
December 30, 2021
Ultima lettura dell’anno, non poteva che capitarmi qualcosa di così particolare. Buono così, dai.
Doverosa premessa: la mia conoscenza dei classici italiani e degli autori più importanti dal dopoguerra in poi è decisamente scarsa. Vuoi per le scelte fatte dai miei professori negli anni del liceo, vuoi per inclinazione personale, non mi sono mai interessata più di tanto ad approfondire. Ma il bello dei gruppi di lettura sta in questo, no?
𝐈𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚 è innanzitutto un romanzo che mostra tutti gli anni che ha. Pubblicato nel 1951, è immerso in una atmosfera antica, che sa dell’Italia tra la guerra e la sua fine: è un mondo rarefatto, ovattato, costruito su estremi opposti, dove le persone si muovono nel tentativo di non fare rumore – quasi fosse un quadro del realismo magico. Marcello è l’uomo che stride all’interno di un mondo simile, si sente diverso a causa di un avvenimento che l’ha segnato da bambino e della sua famiglia; cerca quindi in tutti i modi la normalità che vede, invece, in tutti gli altri tramite un lavoro al ministero e un matrimonio con una donna che non ama più di tanto, ma che è così semplice da risultare perfetta. L’ingresso nella società fascista, tuttavia, richiede un prezzo molto più alto: andare a Parigi e compiere un delitto di stato, individuando un vecchio professore che lavora per la resistenza.
Il ritmo del romanzo segue l’atmosfera rarefatta degli ambienti descritti. Lento, si concentra sull’infanzia di Marcello, la sua missione a Parigi e un inaspettato epilogo – almeno per me, per quanto a posteriori mi renda conto che non avrebbe potuto finire in nessun altro modo. Moravia non si fa problemi a soffermarsi su momenti narrativi che, nell’ottica di una letteratura più contemporanea, sarebbero depennati senza pietà da qualsiasi romanzo a favore dell’azione parigina, quali la confessione prima del matrimonio o il viaggio in treno; tuttavia, ciò permette di capire ancora più a fondo la scissione di Marcello e il suo desiderio di diventare normale. È qualcosa di fortissimo, e Moravia scava a lungo nella psiche del suo protagonista per descriverne l’ascesa e discesa in quella che, oltretutto, mi è parsa come una fortissima critica della società fascista.
Lo stile, infine, è meraviglioso: elegante, perfetto per aiutare il lettore a calarsi nel mondo di Marcello. Per quanto abbia fatto fatica a entrare, soprattutto nelle prime e alienanti pagine, permette una costruzione perfetta della storia.
C’è comunque qualcosa che non mi ha convinta del tutto, questo bisogna dirlo. Ho ritrovato infatti quel vecchio (e orrido) gusto per gli innamoramenti improvvisi, con personaggi che dopo cinque minuti di conoscenza dichiarano un amore eterno che a me lascia sempre molto perplessa. Capisco che Marcello, per sua natura, sia volubile – il desiderio di normalità lo rende tale –, tuttavia che si dichiari pazzamente innamorato di Lina immediatamente mi ha fatto cascare le braccia; poi la storia, per fortuna, si sviluppa in modo molto differente, ma il naso si è storto lo stesso.
Nel complesso una lettura apprezzata, che mi ha lasciato la curiosità di approfondire con altre opere di Moravia.
3/5 ⭐
Doverosa premessa: la mia conoscenza dei classici italiani e degli autori più importanti dal dopoguerra in poi è decisamente scarsa. Vuoi per le scelte fatte dai miei professori negli anni del liceo, vuoi per inclinazione personale, non mi sono mai interessata più di tanto ad approfondire. Ma il bello dei gruppi di lettura sta in questo, no?
𝐈𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚 è innanzitutto un romanzo che mostra tutti gli anni che ha. Pubblicato nel 1951, è immerso in una atmosfera antica, che sa dell’Italia tra la guerra e la sua fine: è un mondo rarefatto, ovattato, costruito su estremi opposti, dove le persone si muovono nel tentativo di non fare rumore – quasi fosse un quadro del realismo magico. Marcello è l’uomo che stride all’interno di un mondo simile, si sente diverso a causa di un avvenimento che l’ha segnato da bambino e della sua famiglia; cerca quindi in tutti i modi la normalità che vede, invece, in tutti gli altri tramite un lavoro al ministero e un matrimonio con una donna che non ama più di tanto, ma che è così semplice da risultare perfetta. L’ingresso nella società fascista, tuttavia, richiede un prezzo molto più alto: andare a Parigi e compiere un delitto di stato, individuando un vecchio professore che lavora per la resistenza.
Il ritmo del romanzo segue l’atmosfera rarefatta degli ambienti descritti. Lento, si concentra sull’infanzia di Marcello, la sua missione a Parigi e un inaspettato epilogo – almeno per me, per quanto a posteriori mi renda conto che non avrebbe potuto finire in nessun altro modo. Moravia non si fa problemi a soffermarsi su momenti narrativi che, nell’ottica di una letteratura più contemporanea, sarebbero depennati senza pietà da qualsiasi romanzo a favore dell’azione parigina, quali la confessione prima del matrimonio o il viaggio in treno; tuttavia, ciò permette di capire ancora più a fondo la scissione di Marcello e il suo desiderio di diventare normale. È qualcosa di fortissimo, e Moravia scava a lungo nella psiche del suo protagonista per descriverne l’ascesa e discesa in quella che, oltretutto, mi è parsa come una fortissima critica della società fascista.
Lo stile, infine, è meraviglioso: elegante, perfetto per aiutare il lettore a calarsi nel mondo di Marcello. Per quanto abbia fatto fatica a entrare, soprattutto nelle prime e alienanti pagine, permette una costruzione perfetta della storia.
C’è comunque qualcosa che non mi ha convinta del tutto, questo bisogna dirlo. Ho ritrovato infatti quel vecchio (e orrido) gusto per gli innamoramenti improvvisi, con personaggi che dopo cinque minuti di conoscenza dichiarano un amore eterno che a me lascia sempre molto perplessa. Capisco che Marcello, per sua natura, sia volubile – il desiderio di normalità lo rende tale –, tuttavia che si dichiari pazzamente innamorato di Lina immediatamente mi ha fatto cascare le braccia; poi la storia, per fortuna, si sviluppa in modo molto differente, ma il naso si è storto lo stesso.
Nel complesso una lettura apprezzata, che mi ha lasciato la curiosità di approfondire con altre opere di Moravia.
3/5 ⭐
June 8, 2022
As a young boy, Marcello feels different, to the extent that it concerns him. Before he has a chance to properly analyse any of these feelings, he has a traumatic experience which will define him for the rest of his life. He comes to the conclusion that the only method for dealing with his confused state is to fit in and be normal. As an adult he explores what it means to be normal, does everything he can to look, sound, and behave in ways that, he believes, will ensure he is convincing. But of course, it's an act. And one which has conflated 'being normal' with merely 'conforming.' As such, in a society where fascism is the norm, he understandably becomes a fascist. He dresses smart, speaks with a measured assurance, marries a nice girl, and does his duty.
The plot revolves around Marcello, now working for the secret police, using his honeymoon as an excuse to visit Paris so that he can point out an old university professor to his colleague Orlando; Orlando's mission of course is assassination. But when he meets the professor's wife, he is overcome with not just attraction to her but, in his words, genuine love for her.
As with 'Boredom' and 'Contempt,' I was absolutely captivated by the writing. There's just something immensely engaging about it. I probably enjoyed this less than those two for two reasons: 1) it was a third person narration and though very good, it lacked the personal worldview of the protagonist which I loved in Boredom and Contempt; and 2) the sudden moment of overwhelming attraction (which he describes as love) that Marcello has for Anna. This comes out of nowhere (as does Anna's lesbian affection for Marcello's wife). It all felt slightly over-the-top despite the theme which might justify it (namely Marcello's inability to adapt and cope with ethical dilemmas that contradict his supposed grasp of normality). That aside, the book was enormously entertaining.
The ending was bitter sweet. His encounter with the ghost of Lino (vague and disturbing) producing the most captivating theory of the book: that loss of innocence is the only true normality. But (rather curiously) as with Boredom and Contempt, there is a incident in a car which seemed excessive. But it's a small complaint.
The plot revolves around Marcello, now working for the secret police, using his honeymoon as an excuse to visit Paris so that he can point out an old university professor to his colleague Orlando; Orlando's mission of course is assassination. But when he meets the professor's wife, he is overcome with not just attraction to her but, in his words, genuine love for her.
As with 'Boredom' and 'Contempt,' I was absolutely captivated by the writing. There's just something immensely engaging about it. I probably enjoyed this less than those two for two reasons: 1) it was a third person narration and though very good, it lacked the personal worldview of the protagonist which I loved in Boredom and Contempt; and 2) the sudden moment of overwhelming attraction (which he describes as love) that Marcello has for Anna. This comes out of nowhere (as does Anna's lesbian affection for Marcello's wife). It all felt slightly over-the-top despite the theme which might justify it (namely Marcello's inability to adapt and cope with ethical dilemmas that contradict his supposed grasp of normality). That aside, the book was enormously entertaining.
The ending was bitter sweet. His encounter with the ghost of Lino (vague and disturbing) producing the most captivating theory of the book: that loss of innocence is the only true normality. But (rather curiously) as with Boredom and Contempt, there is a incident in a car which seemed excessive. But it's a small complaint.
August 11, 2012
Questo è il terzo libro che ho letto di Moravia (dopo La vita è gioco e La ciociara) e quello che mi è piaciuto di più. Gli altri li avevo trovato per caso, ma un mio amico mi aveva detto que Il conformista è il migliori di Moravia, quindi ho deciso di comprarlo. Sebbene Moravia forse non sia un maestro della sottilezza in quanto alle sue idee (il romanzo è, secondo me, pieno di spiegazioni superflue), ha una certa arte di scegliere i detagli precisi e le immagini giuste. A differenza di La ciociara, libro che mi è sembrato forse un po' essaggerato nella sfilza di scene violente e tristi, Il conformista mi pare un libro molto equilibrato, veramente ben fatto. Non ti stanchi di leggerlo, ma ha anche una profondità è una bellezza che a volte ti sorprendono. Un libro veramente bello.
Another book on my list of Italian classics to read, recommended by a friend who lists Moravia as one of the best Italian authors of the 20th century. The Conformist is a book that it relatively simple and quick to read, but with a certain profundity and even beauty despite the decidedly ugly things that take place. Moravia is, as usual, a bit heavy-handed on the explanations in order to drive his point home, but in the end the book comes off as very well put together. Moravia has a way of writing scenes that stick with you for a long time, as I am sure will be the case with this. Overall, I would highly recommend this book.
Another book on my list of Italian classics to read, recommended by a friend who lists Moravia as one of the best Italian authors of the 20th century. The Conformist is a book that it relatively simple and quick to read, but with a certain profundity and even beauty despite the decidedly ugly things that take place. Moravia is, as usual, a bit heavy-handed on the explanations in order to drive his point home, but in the end the book comes off as very well put together. Moravia has a way of writing scenes that stick with you for a long time, as I am sure will be the case with this. Overall, I would highly recommend this book.
April 29, 2025
Most of us conform to the expectations of the society we're born into. But what if you're born into a fascist society. Well, you conform to that too. Why wouldn't you?
Part spy thriller, part existential nightmare. Like most people, Marcello wants to be normal. But modernity has funny ideas about what that might be. So we're all buggered it seems.
Part spy thriller, part existential nightmare. Like most people, Marcello wants to be normal. But modernity has funny ideas about what that might be. So we're all buggered it seems.
January 2, 2019
A strange strange book about the deep roots of conformity and how it meshes with authoritarian politics under a Fascist regime.
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