Il disprezzo

by Alberto Moravia

Uscito per la prima volta nel 1954, questo romanzo costituisce una stazione del viaggio di Moravia attraverso le istituzioni borghesi e il loro scacco. Protagonista è uno scrittore di sceneggiature cinematografiche i cui rapporti con la moglie si illuminano e si complicano a contatto con il mondo della produzione cinematografica, della carriera e del successo. A differenza di "L'amore coniugale" che racconta la storia di un tradimento, "Il disprezzo" muove da un dato positivo, un caso di fedeltà matrimoniale, per chiarirne tutta la natura di illusione, di reale sconfitta e di profonda, modernissima contraddizione.

Genres: Fiction, Italian Literature, Italy, Classics, Literature, Novels, 20th Century

259 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1954

About the author

Alberto 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".

Reviews

[Ilse · Rating 4 out of 5]

The less one notices happiness, the greater it is.

Contempt. Just imagining being the object of this emotion – rolling eyes, an unilateral lip curl on a beloved face, an unilateral lip curl, a sneering or bitter tone in the voice, I shiver at the thought of the chilly grasp on the heart, the sharp pangs of powerlessness and hurt accompanying it. Picture sharing your life space with a person of who you thought he or she was loving you, suddenly experiencing the change of heart, like a cold wind blowing in your neck…




In Alberto Moravia’s 1954 novel ‘Contempt’ the dissection of that emotion turns into the obsession of the narrator. Riccardo Molteni is a writer day-dreaming of more creative freedom, instead spending all his time writing film scripts on demand to pay the bills and afford the kind of housing he presumes his wife Emilia needs and longs for. After two years of being married, he realises Emilia’s feelings for him have changed, and he goes astray in his unyielding quest to understand why he lost her love and respect.

Riccardo, initially taking the love of his spouse as self-evident as the air he breathes, gradually seems to end up in a hallucinatory mist of self-deceit and longing blinding him, making his observations and musings unreliable and diffuse, a mental stumbling in the dark. Is he by his exhaustive questioning and analysis of every gesture and expression of his wife unconsciously pushing away Emilia (and even driving her into the arms of a another man)? Does she only reflect the self-loathing he is projecting on her behalf ? When his producer asks him to turn the Odyssey into a film script together with Rheingold, a German director, his beliefs on the meaning of Homer’s epic and on his own marriage are challenged by Rheingold’s view on Odysseus as a man initially leaving Ithaca to flee his unhappy marriage, the ten years wandering it takes to return after the Trojan war not attributable to the wrath of the gods but Odysseus own unconscious stopping him over and over in his reluctance to return to Penelope. Love and loyalty aren’t synonyms: "Loyalty, Signor Molteni, not love. Penelope is loyal to Ulysses but we do not know how far she loved him...and as you know people can sometimes be absolutely loyal without loving. In certain cases, in fact, loyalty is form of vengeance, of black-mail, of recovering one's self-respect. Loyalty, not love."

Averse to Rheingold’s toying with psycho-analytic interpretations of the Odyssey, rather than sinking into self-scrutiny, Riccardo analyses Emilia’s distancing from him in socio-economic terms, the class struggle emerging in the microcosm of the marriage (Riccardo from a bourgeois background posing as an intellectual, Emilia from a more modest descent). The thoughts and psyche of Emilia stay elusive, like Riccardo the reader only discerns vague contours of her personality and motifs. As she is speaking little, like Riccardo the reader has to rely on the few glimpses of her, on her appearance and her passive-aggressive body language, apparently expressing her anger and annoyance – quite unsettlingly evocated when her husband attempts to kill the distance between them sexually (in which a certain machismo seems to obfuscate Riccardo's mind). Moravia depicts his protagonist as a somewhat silly, clumsy man, a tragi-comical person who has little insight into himself and seems to have no grip on events, in contrasting irony with his profession, giving shape to the life of others in his writing of scenario’s.



The novel made me ruminate on how an originally loving relationship can degenerate into its opposite and what triggers such radical change (the projection of one’s own dreams or wishes on the future on the partner, economic and class differences within a couple, loyalty conflicts) – and how painful it is to witness let alone endure that process and the evaporation of once cherished feelings. Is contempt worse than indifference? Sometimes we are our own worst enemy.

Moravia’s prose is elegant, precise and exciting. Capri - the island of the sirens, of the Roman emperors, of artists and bohemians, where Moravia used to live with his first wife, Italian writer Elsa Morante between 1936 and 1943 - makes a fantastic setting and the descriptions of Moravia of it are stunning.



As the air to a bird or the sea to a fish, so is contempt to the contemptible, William Blake wrote in his Proverbs of Hell. Like David Foster Wallace’s young fish don’t realize they are in the water (This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life), contempt cannot be truly grasped by the one who is the object of it without initiating an existential crisis. And such is the tragedy which hits Moravia’s protagonist, understanding the reasons why Emilia’s feelings changed would make no difference; like a bird that could escape its cage will not return, love lost cannot be regained. L’amour est un oiseau rebelle…





Finally watching Jean-Luc Godard’s gorgeous film adaptation (La Méprise) a year after reading the novel was in every respect a feast to the senses (and fun).

(Photos by Umberto d'Aniello)

[Luís · Rating 4 out of 5]

I overlooked the time passing. I did well to read Contempt today, rather than when I was twenty. To appreciate it, I think you have to have lived.
He is a character in an intellectual quest for the reasons behind his wife's discontent and contempt, whom Moravia addresses in a monologue against the backdrop of the Odyssey and a summary psychoanalysis. This detailed, depressing, and captivating introspection results from incredibly effective writing that lacks only a few notes of poetry and forces (or facilitates) identification with both man and woman. Of course, relationships between men and women are somewhat outdated - not more than half a century has passed since the novel's release, without changing our societies - but that does not matter.
It emerges in particular that love can do without fidelity, while fidelity without love is nothing, if not suffering.

[Steven Godin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Born out of his own relationship problems with wife Elsa Morante, Moravia's Contempt is a rich but turbulent story of a marriage in decline, where Rome screenwriter Molteni is told by his beautiful wife Emilia that she not only doesn't love him anymore, but finds him deplorable to be around.
Told with a profound sense of melancholy, the narrative possesses both an unpleasant behind-closed-doors feel, mixed with tragedy and farce. Very early on we realize that love is dead in the water so to speak, or at least from Emilia's perspective, the sensitive Ricarrdo (also known as Molteni) on the other hand is left reeling with a sense of what have I done wrong? relentlessly questioning his wife as to the reasons why she feels this way. Along with the troubled couple, the novel only features two other characters, film producer Battista, an arrogant and overbearing individual who has eyes for Emilia, and German Director Rheinhold who wants to make a film version of Homers's Odyssey.

The couple are invited to Battista'a villa on the idyllic island of Capri in the Bay of Naples, helping Molteni to start writing a script, with it's rugged coastline and sparkling blue/green waters, it seems the perfect place to get away and clear the air, but this would only lead to a growing tension that doesn't let up. Emilia becomes more distant, looking at her husband as a mere ghost, while Molteni is struggling with two idea's for the film, Battista wants a spectacular Odyssey, but Rheinhold's vision is a philosophical one. Stuck in the middle with his mind only on one thing, Molteni's agitation fueled by the blistering heat leads him to question his own nature and deepest fears.

The most striking aspect of Contempt is the cool calculated way he looks at love, or lack of it. For all it's painful predicaments, there is a great substance in his writing, sometimes you want to turn away from the intimate conflict and intensity, but he still compels the reader to keep turning the pages to the bitter end.
Reading of a marital crisis was never going to be easy, and with an equally tragic finale it's not going to particularly make you feel that great, but I loved it.
And having seen numerous times Jean Luc Godard's 1963 adaptation, staring a pouting Brigitte Bardot, apart from a few differences it reads similar to the film. but never spoiled proceedings.

4.5/5 for the book, but an extra half star given with it being linked to Godard, my movie God.

[emma]

i fear i may have started yet another book collection (i love the nyrb classics)

[To-The-Point Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man discovers that his wife no longer loves him. She's clearly banging his boss.

It's so obvious she's banging his boss.

Dude, she's banging your boss!!

[Megha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ayn Rand's writing is probably the only thing that I have read and found more annoying than Contempt. Moravia's idea had such great potential. An existential, psychological drama, doesn't it sound promising? In fact, Moravia did succeed in portraying the obsessive, supremely self-centered and over-analytic narrator, Riccardo Molteni, pretty well. He lets the reader discover the unreliability of the narrator and see through his wrong judgements slowly during the course of the novel. But being inside the head of this obsessive narrator gets irritating very soon...like fingernails scraping a chalkboard. He is so full of negativity. I have nothing against a negative character being the lead, but he/she should be somewhat interesting. On the contrary, Molteni's narration is excruciatingly painful to read and insufferably repetitive.

"Emilia doesn't love me."
"I am too good to be writing film-scripts."
"Emilia, why do you despise me?"
"Emilia, do you love me?"

Keep repeating these thoughts in a mixed fashion, throw in the words repugnance, despise, have an explanation with as often as possible and you have the first 150 pages written.
Now bring in a director who incessantly analyzes Ulysses from Odyssey, repeat the phrases from the previous part whenever the director shuts up and that's another 70-80 pages.

The narrator sometimes gets stuck at one thought and writes an entire page saying the same thing several times. At times he thinks way too slowly. He devotes one full page to Emilia discussing the dinner menu with the maid, and another page analyzing that scene. Not just that the thoughts are repeated, they are expressed in the same manner, using the same words over and over again. May be it is the translator's fault, but I do not want to read the same phrase four times in a single paragraph.

This still could have been tolerable if the prose weren't so lifeless and dry. All I felt while reading Contempt was FRUSTRATION! It is not touching, it is no fun to read, it is not informative or thought-provoking, why read it?

Riccardo Molteni, STOP THINKING or JUST DIE!

[Kalliope · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is all about wives and husbands.

What I mean is that I came to the husband through his wives or companions.

I first discovered Dacia Maraini, whose writing I greatly enjoyed. Then, more recently to Elsa Morante, whose "Isola" is unforgettable. So now I finally came to him. I had known he was ‘there’ but his literary presence became more imminent once I had met his women.

Alberto Moravia met Elsa Morante in 1936 and they got married in 1941. They lived in Capri soon after but during the war they had to hide a bit more in the Neapolitan bay. They took refuge in a fortress, well not really, just in a town where there is a beautiful fortress, in Forti which lies between Rome and Naples. They separated in 1962 when Moravia got together with Maraini with whom he stayed until 1978. Alberto and Dacia worked together for the theatre, although I have only read their novels.


Moravia and Morante in Capri.

This novel is about husband and wife too. It was published in 1954 and is set between Rome and Capri. It is inevitable that the reader will try to sniff autobiographical elements, particularly with the Capri setting, the profession of the main character, a writer who has to work writing film scripts to earn a living and may be some elements in the strained relationship in the couple: Riccardo Molteni and Emilia.

Moravia was very close to the cinema – not only did he write scripts for several films but was also a respected film critic. He moved in the orbit of Pasolini (with whom he and Maraini traveled extensively throughout the East) and other film makers and the latter corresponded by bringing to the main screen several of his novels. This one was taken up by Godard in 1963 with Brigitte Bardot as Emilia.

In this novel we see how an emotional virus, the feeling of contempt or ‘disprezzo’ grows and separates the couple. With a crystal-clear language, Morante makes this feeling take over the main two characters in his work. Very slowly, so slowly that at times the reader can grow irritated with the narrator, Riccardo, as much as his wife. And so clearly that the characters often repeat themselves, with an accompanying ‘as I have already said’.

But there is a lot of light in this novel, in particular when the plot takes the reader to Capri. The Mediterranean setting then takes on a singular meaning. For if Homer’s story of the Odyssey could provide a key or a clue or the destiny that this story is to follow--in particular the relationship between the husband Ulysses and the wife Penelope--, the interpretation drawn from the classical story cannot be any variation; it has to be subjected to the forces of the Middle Sea. So, for example, the narrator dismisses Joyce’s version because the blazing and scorching sun is not present in the Northern replay.

And this sun and the water and its changing blue colours distort destinies and dominate the mind of the characters, melting them into hallucinations I see that one of the translations into English has chosen title of "A Ghost at Noon"). It is also the passages dealing with the sunlight and the rich blues that provide the reader unforgettably beautiful evocations of that fantastic Neapolitan coast.

An yet, even if the sun and the sea are present, there is no return.

[Haytham ⚜️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

رواية نفسية وتحليل سلوك البشر وما يعتلج في داخلها، من مشاعر ورغبات وسبر أغوارها المخفية.

ثيمة الرواية الأساسية عندما أخبرت أميلي زوجها مولتيني في يوم من الأيام أنها تحتقره! وهكذا كان كل شئ يعود إلى السؤال نفسه؛ هل كانت تحتقرني ولماذا؟

تدور الأحداث في روما 1954 زمن كتابة الرواية، بين الزوج وهو كاتب سيناريو الأفلام وزوجته ومنتج أفلامه باتيستا وشخصية رابعة مخرج فيلم مزمع تنفيذه عن الأوديسة لهوميروس.

ومن خلال الأحداث نشاهد مولتيني وصراعه النفسي لمعرفة ذلك الاحتقار الذي وصمته به زوجته أميلي، مع حوارات نفسية داخلية مع نفسه ومع تكتمها الشديد للتصريح بأسباب ذلك الاحتقار، كما نشاهد من خلال حواراته مع مخرج الفيلم ونقاشاتهم عن شخصية عوليس وبينيلوب في الأدويسة من خلال رؤية المخرج أنها تشبه ما يعتمل بين مولتيني وزوجته وأنها كما زوجته كانت تحتقر عوليس زوجها، بدون معرفة المخرج تلك الأمور الزوجية ولكنها طعنت مولتيني وجعلته في صراع نفسي رهيب، وشعوره بفقدان زوجته ورغبته لاسترجاع حبها له.

أعتقد أن موراڤيا كان يكتب عن نفسه في هذه الرواية بعد فشل علاقته الزوجية في حياته الشخصية، كما أنه أوضح أن سوء التفاهم بين الزوجين وبعض المشكلات غير المحسوسة وعدم علاجها في التو تؤدي إلى تفاقمها وهو الدرس المستفاد.

"أن يتبع المرء الصف في الحياة، كما يتبع الصف أمام نافذة قطع التذاكر في المحطة، إن دورنا يصل دائمًا إذا كنا نملك صبرًا، واذا لم نغير صفنا؛ إن دورنا يأتي لأن موظف التذاكر يعطي كلًا تذكرته، ولكل حسب استحقاقه
طبعًا".

(موراڤيا 1954)

[Yousra · Rating 4 out of 5]

هل
من الممكن
أن
تقرأ رواية
فتكره كل شخصياتها
ومع ذلك
تحب الرواية ككل؟؟


عجيب أمر هذه الرواية... مستفزة لأقصى درجة

كرهت كل الشخصيات ... وتعاطفت معهم جميعا

أعطيتهم أعذارا ... وغضبت لذلك

حزرت سبب احتقار الزوجة لزوجها حتى وإن كانت لم تقر سببا للإحتقار

وتعجبت أن تمتلك الأجنبيات تلك النزعة الشرقية في متطلبات المرأة من زوجها

رواية عجيبة ... ربما تتكرر في الحياة الحقيقية

كم من منزل يغلق بابه على زوجة تحتقر زوجها وزوج لاه غير مدرك أو مدرك تماما ولكنه راغب في الإحتفاظ بزوجته إما أملا في تغيير شعورها تجاهه و حبا لها أو لمجرد الإمتلاك للثأر مستغلا حاجات نفسية ومادية قد تتغير حسب تغير المجتمعات والثقافات

كم من امرأة ترى زوجها ليس رجلا ولا يتصرف تصرفات رجال ... وقد تتعدد الأسباب وتختلف عما ورد بالرواية

وبالتأكيد فهو شعور قاتل للزوجة ... فالمشاعر السلبية جميعها سيئة وتثقل على القلب ... ومن الصعب أن تشعر أنك مجبور على التعامل مع شخص تحتقره بشكل يومي

قد يكون من الأسهل أن تتعامل مع شخص لا تحبه ولكنك تحترمه على أن تتعامل مع شخص أحببته يوما وارتبط اسمك به ولكنه سقط من نظرك واستحق اسباب الاحتقار

كانت مملة قليلا وكنت أحاول أن أختصر الصفحات فلا أستطيع تفويت أي كلمة وكأنه كان يقيدني بصفحات الكتاب كاملة

والنهاية كانت مباغتة وغريبة

تجربتي الأولى مع مورافيا ولن تكون الأخيرة

وتجربتي الأولى مع الأدب الإيطالي وأتمنى ان يكون القادم أكثر تشويقا

[Araz Goran · Rating 5 out of 5]

تتضمن شخصيات مورافيا دائماً شخصيات تعج بالوسواس، السأم، القلق ، هذه السمات المميزة التي تصيب الحب في آخر مراحله، تتصارع الشخصيات لا عن قناعة بل يتدخل داء الوسوسة في كل شيء، يحول حياة الأشخاص إلى جحيم حقيقي منفر، إن كائنات مورافيا والحق يقال أنها منفرة جداً، مهزوزة بل وفي بعض الأحيان - سامحوني على قول ذلك - مثيرة للتقزز ، يملؤها النفاق والتدلل والتمايع ، تظل تسأل السؤال نفسه، تكرر ذاتها وتضجر القارئ أحيانا، ولكن ما يميز مورافيا هو دخوله في صميم الأشياء، في قلب العلاقات، يعريها ويصور لنا كل ما هو واقع تحت القناع الذي لا نريد أن نراه في أي علاقة، إن مورافيا كاتب خبيث ولئيم، لا يخجل من عرض أفكار الانحطاط في شخصياته وضعفها وانقيادها الغير مبرر نحو العاطفة، يجسد مورافيا العاطفة كلغة جسدية وروحية وكوسواس قسري يصيب شخصياته الرئيسية، العاطفة هنا وكعادة الطليان ليست مسألة ثانوية بل هي صلب الحياة وقيمتها العظمى وتلك الآلة التي تفتك بالعلاقة في نهاية الأمر وتجعل الجميع في حالة بؤس مزرٍ، جميل حين يكتب هذا الرجل عن أعماق النفس، حين يرسم ذلك المربع الواضح لكل علاقة، الأشياء المخزية بحق، الخيانة والضعف والحب الأعمى الخائب دائماً، التحولات الفجائية، وكم هو بارع في رصف بعض الحقائق اللعينة والتي يكره معظمنا أن يطلع عليها ..


وهنا يبرز بالفعل موضوع الاحتقار ، لنسأل هذا السؤال الصعب، متى يحتقر الانسان شريك حياته وهو الذي أمضى عمره باحثاً عنه، ذلك الاحتقار التراكمي الذي تكنه المرأة للرجل المحبوب الى قلبها، فلا يعود يغيرها فيه شيء ببساطة، النزوة التي تصيب المرأة فتترك زوجها وماضيها، مورافيا هنا لا يحكي بشكل عام بل يحلل بدقة كل تفاصيل نفسية الرجل هنا، ولكم أن تتصوروا كيف يتذلل الرجل المسكين هنا باحثاً عن خطوات بائسة لإعادة الثقة في العلاقة وترميم ما كان قد كسر للتو أو على مدى سنوات، ولكن الحظ للأسف لا يكفي هنا ولا التنازلات ، يتتبع مورافيا خطوات التغيير هذا ، يكتب عن ماهية العلاقات وكيف أنها قد تكون قائمة على توازنات مريضة من قبل رجل أو امرأة على علاقة الزواج بينهما والتي قد تمتد لسنوات،
وكما قلت مرة عن رواية ل تولستوي أنها لا تصلح للقراءة لمن يحب أو يبحث عن الزواج، هذه الرواية أيضاً تنضم إلى تلك القائمة السوداء، لأنها تحطم الكثير من الأصنام والأفكار، سواء كانت صحيحة أم خاطئة ولكنها روايات خطيرة تندس في عقل القارئ وتلفت الانتباه لأشياء ربما ما يكون على الإنسان أن يفكر فيها أصلاً ..


بالمحصلة الرواية جريئة وصادمة وذكية للغاية، أبدع فيها مورافيا في رسم أحد خرائط العلاقات المعقدة بدقة مدهشة ، الترجمة كانت سلسة ولطيفة مع وجود بعض الملاحظات عليها والتي خففت قليلا جداً من متعة الرواية، إلا أنها ترجمة تستحق الإشادة بوجه عام ..

[William2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is superb. Use of first-person narration a perfect match to content. There are many ways to render insanity on the page, this and Elena Ferrante’s The Days of Abandonment are among my favorites.

[Emilio Berra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Capri ancora Capri
Questo romanzo del '54, se non è il più bel libro di Moravia, sicuramente è quello di maggior leggibilità.
Viene rappresentata la crisi del rapporto fra uno sceneggiatore cinematografico (per ripiego economico) e l'amatissima moglie.
Sullo sfondo un film riguardante l'Odissea, l'ambiguo mondo del cinema e Capri, ammaliante in tutta la sua bellezza.

Lo scrittore, osservatore sempre attento del connubio tra fattori socio-economici e meccanismi psicologici, entra nei meandri dei sentimenti della giovane coppia e ne analizza, con precisione quasi chirurgica, le dinamiche palesi e recondite, catturando il lettore fin dalle prime pagine e tenendolo ancorato per l'intera narrazione.

S'inizia dai tempi del primo innamoramento, quando "...non ci giudicavamo: ci amavamo" , con la constatazione che "la felicità è tanto più grande quanto meno la si avverte". Ma la passione non si è trasformata in amore duraturo : l'analisi delle cause è impietosa ; le conseguenze formano un dramma che trova rispecchiamento nella tesi fel regista, col quale il nostro protagonista dovrebbe collaborarae, secondo cui "Ulisse non voleva tornarsene a casa, non voleva riunirsi a Penelope" , anzi era partito proprio per allontanarsi da lei che non lo amava più. Pertanto "Il suo spirito di avventura (...) in realtà non è che un desiderio inconscio di rallentare il viaggio" .

Moravia conosceva bene il mondo del cinema, nel ricorrente conflitto fra arte e pressioni economiche di spettacolarità convenzionale, un tema che viene mirabilmente integrato nell'apporto delle sue esperienze letterarie precedenti.
La scrittura, rigorosa e analitica, ben si adatta all'indagine intrapresa.

[Alexander Carmele · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inhaltlich atmosphärische Odyssee durch ein Ehedrama, leider sprachlich unterkomplex

Inhalt: 5/5 Sterne („denn sie wissen nicht, was sie tun“)
Form: 2/5 Sterne (einfallslos, meist flüssig)
Erzählstimme: 5/5 Sterne (reflektiert, situiertes Ich)
Komposition: 4/5 Sterne (klare Dynamik, wenig Beliebiges)
Leseerlebnis: 4/5 Sterne (spannend, sprachlich unterkomplex)

Moravia veröffentlichte Il disprezzo 1954 und gehört eher in die mittlere Schaffensphase. Untreue, Sexualität und Lügen gehören zum Standardrepertoire Moravias. Im Gegensatz zu späteren Romane wird er in Die Verachtung nicht explizit. In diesem Roman herrscht eher ein intellektualisierter Ton vor, der noch in symbolischen Bezugnahme eine Standortbestimmung versucht, die bspw. La noia oder Der Zuschauer völlig aufgegeben wird. Gerade dieses Suchen nach einer Stimme, nach einem Versuch, das Klassische im Tagtraum zu erretten, lässt Die Verachtung im Gesamtwerk von Moravia herausstechen. Hier spielt er mit gleitenden, schwebenden, sich überlagernden Wirklichkeitssphären:

Gerade ein Meer wie dieses wollte Homer in seinem Gedicht darstellen, einen Himmel wie diesen, einen Küstenstrich wie diesen, und Menschen, die dieser Natur glichen, die die liebenswerte Einfachheit und das Maß der Alten besaßen. Genau das wollte er darstellen, das und nichts anderes. Rheingold aber wollte aus dieser bunten und leuchtenden Welt mit ihren beseelenden Winden und ihrer strahlenden Sonne, mit ihren gewitzten und lebensvollen Geschöpfen einfach eine Art Schlangengrube machen, in der es weder Sonne noch Luft gab: das Unbewußte des Odysseus.

Der Grundkonflikt des Romans dreht sich deckungsgleich wie in Der Zuschauer um das Haben und Nicht-Haben einer Eigentumswohnung in Rom. Dem Protagonisten, ein Ich-Erzähler, Riccardo, 27 Jahre alt, will seiner Ehefrau im dritten Jahr seiner Ehe, endlich eine Wohnung bieten und verschuldet sich. Um die Raten und Schulen abzubezahlen, verdingt er sich einem Produzenten namens Battista und schreibt für ihn Drehbücher. Leider deprimiert ihn das Drehbuchschreiben, zumal die Ideen, wie das Zitat zeigt, zwischen Regisseur, Produzent und Drehbuchautor divergieren und im Drehbuch seine authentische Stimme nicht zu hören ist.

Gewiß kann der Drehbuchautor, wie dies auch wiederholt der Fall ist, in seiner untergeordneten Tätigkeit viel erreichen und viel Geld verdienen, niemals aber kann er sagen: «Diesen Film habe ich gemacht, dieser Film bin ich.» Dies kann nur der Regisseur von sich sagen, der ja auch als einziger für den Film verantwortlich zeichnet. Der Drehbuchautor hat von seiner Arbeit nichts als das Geld, das er für sie bekommt; und das Geld wird, ob er will oder nicht, zum einzigen wirklichen Ziel seiner Tätigkeit. Es bleibt ihm nichts übrig, als mit dem Geld, dem einzigen Lohn seiner Mühen, das Leben zu genießen, so gut er es vermag.

Moravias Schreiben dreht sich in allen Romanen um die Entfremdung in einer funktional-differenzierten Gesellschaft, die durch Arbeitsteilung, durch Geld und Warenzirkulation, Reichtum erzeugt, aber die einzelnen vor die Herausforderung stellt, im verquasten, schwebenden Chaos sinnstiftende Prozesse und Handlungen zu finden. Seinen Hauptfiguren gelingt es nicht. Sie bleiben in einem Abwärtsstrudel des ungekonnten Hedonismus gefangen und ertrinken zumeist. Was Die Verdacht auszeichnet, ist sein optimistischer Ton, der sogar Tagträume und klassizistische Höhenflüge erlaubt:

Emilia war zur gleichen Zeit die Frau meiner Träume und die Frau, die mich auf Grund elender Gemeinplätze einschätzte und verachtete […] Um jene Emilia zu besitzen, die ich liebte, und um zu erreichen, daß sie mich so einschätzte, wie ich tatsächlich war, hätte ich sie aus der Welt herausführen müssen, die sie umgab, und in eine Welt versetzen, die so einfach und echt war wie sie, in der das Geld nicht zählte und die Worte unverfälscht geblieben waren, in eine Welt, nach der ich, wie Rheingold mir entgegengehalten hatte, wohl streben konnte, die es aber nicht gab.

Moravias Held durchschreitet aber nicht das Besitzen-Wollen. Er will besitzen, ohne zu besitzen, und in diesem teuflisch-dämonischen unendlichen Regress verliert er alles, was ihm lieb und sprichwörtlich teuer ist. Die Verachtung handelt von Selbstlügen, die sich als Ideale tarnen, aber auch von Träumen, die wahr werden könnten. Die äußerst verschachtelte Ideenführung geht bei der Verfilmung von Jean-Luc Godard Le Mépris (1963) verloren und hat eigentlich mit dem Roman nur oberflächlich zu tun.

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Details – ab hier Spoilergefahr (zur Erinnerung für mich):
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Inhalt:
●Hauptfigur(en): Riccardo Molteni (R), 27 Jahre alt, Schriftsteller, träumt davon, Theaterstücke zu schreiben, sein Geld mit künstlerisch wertvollen Stücken zu verdienen, arm. Nebenfiguren: Emilia Molteni (E), Riccardos Frau, aus einfachen Verhältnissen, Stenotypisten, keine akademische Bildung. Battista (B), Produzent, Arbeitgeber von Riccardo. Rheingold (RG), deutscher Regisseur, der mit Battista und Riccardo einen Film über Homers Odyssee drehen will.
●Zusammenfassung/Inhaltsangabe:
1.) R denkt, E möchte eine eigene Wohnung, spart für die erste Rate, kratzt alles zusammen und kauft eine Wohnung, hat aber Sorge, dass er die zweite und alle anderen Raten nicht aufzubringen vermag. Er nimmt daher das Jobangebot von B an, der beim ersten Treffen E zwingt, mit ihm zu fahren, R willigt ein, fährt mit einem Taxi hinterher, das einen Unfall baut. Er trifft viel später bei B ein.
2.) E scheint etwas verändert daraufhin zu sein. E will mit B nichts zu tun haben. Sie befinden sich im dritten Ehejahr.
3.) R fühlt sich von seinem Job als Drehbuchautor beschmutzt, von den Geldnöten geplagt und tritt der Kommunistischen Partei ein.
4.) Eine Woche nach dem ersten Treffen mit B will E nicht mehr mit R in einem Bett schlafen. Sie erträgt sein Schnarchen nicht und auch nicht das offene Fenster, das er zum Schlafen benötigt.
5.) R empfindet seinen Beruf des Drehbuchschreibens als Sklaverei.
6.) Szene nach dem ersten Drehbuch im Hause von Pasetti, der von seiner Frau angehimmelt wird und R noch das Abschlusshonorar vorenthält.
7.) Als R nach Hause zurückkehrt, findet er E vor, die doch nicht zu ihrer Mutter gegangen ist. R misstrauisch, stellt der Mutter, die anruft, eine Falle. E bekommt sein Misstrauen mit. R beklagt sich, dass E ihn nicht mehr liebe, zweifelt an seinem Drehbuchjob, wird aber von E überzeugt, Bs Angebot, ein weiteres Drehbuch für ihn zu schreiben, anzunehmen.
8.) Das neue Projekt soll mit einem deutschen Regisseur namens Rheingold (RG) durchgeführt werden und handelt von einer Neuverfilmung der Odyssee. B schwebt etwas Bombastisches vor, RG etwas Psychologisches. B räsoniert über den neorealistischen Film, der zu pessimistisch sei. B will, dass RG, R und E nach Capri in seine Villa fahren, um dort an dem Drehbuch zu arbeiten. R erinnert sich an seine Episode mit der Stenotypistin, die er „versehentlich“ geküsst hat.
9.) E und R streiten sich. Sie gibt zu, dass sie ihn nicht mehr liebe, ihn sogar verachte, nennt aber keinen Grund. R würgt sie, hält sich gerade zurück, sie mit einem schweren Aschenbecher zu schlagen.
10.) R denkt über E nach, weiß, dass sie aufrichtig und ehrlich ist, und stellt sich infrage. Er drängt darauf, auswärts essen zu gehen, dorthin, wo sie sich kennenlernt haben, in ein Restaurant an der Via Appia. E will sich aber nicht erklären. Er wird ungeduldig. Im Regen streiten sie sich wieder. E wehrt seine Zudringlichkeit im Regen ab.
11.) E versucht zu ihrer Mutter zu ziehen, die hat aber kein Zimmer mehr frei. Obwohl sie sich treffen will, bleibt sie vorerst bei R. Er setzt seine Hoffnung in den Urlaub auf Capri.
12.) Sie fahren los, und B besteht wieder darauf, dass E in seinem Wagen mitfährt, da RG und R auf der Fahrt bereits über das Drehbuch reden sollen. Sie reden über das Klassische, und über RGs Deutung, dass Penelope und Odysseus Eheprobleme gehabt hätten und Odysseus deshalb in den Krieg gezogen sei. Nach einem Fastunfall mit einem Ochsenkarren, legen sie eine Pause ein und gehen zum Strand, B und E stoßen zu ihnen, E bedrückt, will nicht mit B weiterfahren. B aber setzt sich durch. R schaut voller Sehnsucht ihr nach, bedrückt, sich gegen B nicht durchsetzen zu können.
13.) Ankunft auf Capri. B spricht sich mit R aus, dass er keinen psychologischen Odysseusfilm drehen wolle, ihn interessierten Eheprobleme nicht. R fühlt sich B unterworfen, wie ein Diener seinem Herrn.
14.) Nach einem nächtlichen Spaziergang kehrt R zurück zur Villa und beobachtet aus dem Verborgenen, wie B E das schwarze ärmellose Abendkleid von der Schulter reißt und sie küsst. E empört, ohne zu protestieren, geht. Nachher begreift R, dass E ihn gesehen hat, wie er sie beobachtete, auch vermeint er auf Es Gesicht einen ähnlichen Ausdruck der Ergebenheit zu sehen, wie ihn Pasettis Frau ihrem Regisseursgatten gegenüber zeigte. R, auf seine schlechte Laune hin, befragt, faselt etwas von künstlerischen Ambition, statt seine Eifersucht zuzugeben.
16.) R und E sprechen sich aus. E schlägt R vor, in Capri zu bleiben und weiter für B zu arbeiten.
17.) Treffen zwischen R und RG, ausführliche Deutung RGs von der Eheproblematik Odysseus‘. Penelope sei enttäuscht von ihm gewesen, wie er das Buhlen der Freier um sie akzeptiert hat, statt sie zu erschlagen. Er benötigt den Krieg und die Heimkehr, um als zivilisierter Mann zum Entschluss zu kommen, die Freier zu erschlagen, was eigentlich nicht in seinem Sinne steht, aber der Erwartung Penelopes, einer Barbarin, entspreche.
18.) R wandert umher, überlegt sich in den Tod zu stürzen, um E ihren Irrtum zu beweisen. Auf der Wanderung erblickt er sie am Strand. Sie hat einen mächtigen Eindruck auf ihn. Sie hält ihn auf Distanz. Sie gibt zu, dass sie weiß, dass R sie und B gesehen habe. Er träumt davon, wie er sie küsst.
19.) R beschließt das Projekt abzusagen, redet mit RG über Joyce, über Verfremdung, über das Klassische an Odysseus, das Erhabene. RG wirft R vor, nur an den Kommerz zu denken; R zitiert Dante (Inferno: 26. Gesang: „Nicht geboren seid ihr, um zu leben wie Vieh, sondern um Tugend und Erkenntnis zu suchen.“ – oder: „Gedenkt, aus welchem Samen ihr entsprossen, geschaffen ward ihr nicht, wie Tiere hinzuleben, doch Tüchtigkeit euch zu erringen und Erkenntnis.“) und geht.
20.) In der Villa von B zurück, kommt es erneut zur Aussprache. E gesteht R, dass sie ihn nicht männlich genug finde und deshalb verachte. R erkennt, dass E sich nicht umkämpft genug empfand, dass sie von seiner Passivität enttäuscht ist, dass er B freie Bahn gelassen habe. R will sofort los, nach Rom, aber B will bleiben, denn sie hat in Rom keine Wohnung.
21.) R, entsetzt, flüchtet sich in den Schlaf, wacht auf und hört, dass B und E essen gegangen sind. R begreift, dass er in einer idealen Welt liebt, in einem Tagtraum, der nichts mit der Wirklichkeit zu tun hat, dass E ihn und nicht seine Möglichkeit sieht. Die verschiedenen Weisen Odysseus zu betrachten. Als er B und E wiederkommen hört, nimmt er schnell ein Schlafmittel.
22.) Am Morgen findet er einen Brief von E, wo sie ihn mitteilt, dass sie zurück nach Rom kehrt und alleine zu leben versucht, aber die Möglichkeit, Bs Geliebte zu werden, nicht ausschließt. R fühlt sich wie ein entwurzelter Baum, geht auf Capri umher, leiht sich ein Ruderboot und halluziniert ein Gespräch mit E, in welchem sie zu ihm zurückkehrt.
23.) Er kehrt zurück in die Villa, wo ihn die Nachricht ereilt, dass E bei einem Unfall gestorben ist. B musste zu scharf bremsen, um einem Ochsenkarren auszuweichen, wobei E sich das Genick gebrochen hat.
●Kurzfassung: Um für sich und seine Frau eine Wohnung zu finanzieren und Geld für ein angenehmes Leben zu verdienen, beschließt ein junger Theaterschriftsteller Drehbücher für einen Produzenten zu schreiben. Tatsächlich verdient er nun Geld, aber sein Leben entgleitet ihm. Seine Frau wird von dem Produzenten umschwärmt, und er küsst die ihm zur Verfügung gestellte Stenotypistin. Das Ehepaar entfremdet sich. Auch ein Aufenthalt auf Capri ändert daran nichts, wo er sich entschließt, die Zusammenarbeit mit dem Produzenten zu beenden, als er Zeuge von einer Szene zwischen diesem und seiner Frau wird, in der der Produzent sie küsst. Es ist aber zu spät. Die beiden reisen ohne ihn ab, und sie kommt auf dem Rückweg nach Rom ums Leben.
… typisches Themen bei Moravia: Untreue, Lüge, konkreter: Wagenvergleich, sinnloses Herumfahren mit dem Wagen, Selbstmord, eine geistig-träge Frau, Eifersucht, der Wunsch nach Nest und Eigentumswohnung, Geldmangel.
… psychologisches Drama: Protagonist unterstellt seiner Frau materielle Wünsche, die er nicht befriedigen kann – deshalb prostituiert er sich, und indem er nun ihre materiellen Wünsche erfüllt, überkommt ihn das Gefühl, die Frau verhalte sich ebenfalls wie eine Prostituierte. Hieraus entsteht das Unglück. Am Ende prostituieren sich beide und beide sind unglücklich. Im Gegensatz zu anderen Romanen besitzt Moravia hier eine größere intellektuelle Spannweite: der Konflikt zwischen dem Monumentalen (Battista), dem Psychologischen (Rheingold) und dem Klassischen (Riccardo).
… Beziehung auf Rheingold von Wagner nur oberflächlich: Schatz der Rheintöchter wird von Alberich gestohlen, nachdem sie ihn verschmäht haben. Aus diesem Schatz lässt er einen Ring schmieden, mit welchem er das Nibelungenvolk unterwirft. Also ohne Liebe grenzenlose Macht und Reichtum.
… Rahmenwirkungen: das schwarze, ärmellose Kleid beim ersten Treffen und in der Szene, in der R sieht, wie B E küsst; zudem die Szene mit dem Ochsenkarren: R und RG fahren, R kann gerade so ausweichen; am Ende passiert dasselbe B, der bremsen muss, wobei B sich das Genick bricht (der draufgängerische Fahrstil wird mehrfach erwähnt, das, was B männlich erscheinen lässt, kostet E das Leben).
… die Atmosphäre auf Capri, die hintergründige Gewalt, die Schwäche, die Deutung, das Ausspielen dieser Deutung, die Multiperspektivität in der Odysseusgestalt bei Homer und Dante, der Verweis auf Wagner, auf den Film, die Debatten um Kunst, Film und Kommerz, heben den Roman über die anderen Machwerke von Moravia weit hinweg.
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Form: Der Stil von Moravia erscheint hier runder, austarierter, aber immer noch nicht interessant, nicht divers, langweilige Wörter, langweilige Adjektive, viele Wiederholungen, langweilige Sätze, langweilige Dialogformen. Die Form selbst erscheint zu flach, zu wenig originell im Schreibstil.
--> 2 Sterne

Erzählstimme: Die Erzählstimme ist durchweg Ich-Erzählung, und zwar aus dem Präsens heraus, in welchem Emilia tot ist, und er sich die letzten Monaten vor Augen führt, wie es dazukommen konnte. Durchweg plausibel, ungebrochen, und situiert, wie konsequent ausgeführt. Die Ich-Erzählung geschieht verlässlich. Das Präteritum ist weitestgehend eingehalten, bis auf den Anfang, der Anfang des ganzen Problems, der szenisch präsentisch erzählt wird.
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Komposition: Die meisten Motive werden aufgenommen: Blick Pasettis Frau auf Gatten, Blick Emilias auf Battista; Fastunfall Ochsenkarren von Riccardo, Unfall mit Todesfolge mit Ochsenkarre von Battista; roter Faden die Wohnung, die Villa, das Eigentum; roter Faden das schnelle Auto, das langsame Auto; Rahmenwirkung des schwarzen ärmellosen Kleides am Anfang und dann in der Villa am Ende auf Capri, als Emilia nun Battistas Geliebte wird. Die drei Deutungen Odysseus als drei Männlichkeitsfiguren: der Draufgänger, der Intellektuelle, der Träumer. Insgesamt wohl komponiert auf die Erkenntnis hin, dass Emilia ihn betrügt oder betrügen könnte. Sehr dicht. Einziges loses Moment Riccardos Begeisterung für die kommunistische Partei, und die Episode mit der Stenotypisten, die wäre auch nicht nötig gewesen und schwächt den Plot, da es eine Racheaktion Emilias nahelegt, daher:
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Leseerlebnis: Vielleicht wegen des Films im Hinterkopf fiel die Lektüre sehr leicht, sehr atmosphärisch, spannend, verwirrend, verwickelt, sehr lange in Schwebe gehalten. Keine Enttäuschung. Inhaltlich stark, sprachlich schwach.
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[Dagio_maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

” Mi domandai ad un tratto:
“Perché mi sento tanto infelice?”


C’erano una volta gli anni cinquanta del Novecento.
Anni in cui ci si impegna fortemente a cancellare il passato recente.
Un colpo di spugna ed ecco che spariscono dalla memoria i lunghi anni di guerra (mondiale e civile) di soprusi e di violenze.

C’era una volta il boom economico dove l’onomatopea, questa volta, si riferisce all’esplosiva crescita delle ambizioni italiana.
Possedere è la parola d’ordine perché è imperativo dimostrare che si è agiati.
Sono i tempi dell’utilitaria, gli elettrodomestici americani e, soprattutto, della casa di proprietà.

C’era una volta l’Amore; quella parola che, oltrepassando le frontiere e resistendo nel tempo, può essere tanto fonte di gioia quanto di profondo dolore.

Lui è un cognome (il Molteni) che nella bocca di Lei diventa un nome (Riccardo) pronunciato senza amore.
Questo è il punto, Lei, Emilia non lo ama più e non fa niente per nasconderlo, anzi costretta ad ammetterlo confessa qualcosa di più:

“Io ti disprezzo... ecco quello che provo per te, ed ecco il motivo per cui non ti amo più... Ti disprezzo e mi fai schifo ogni volta che mi tocchi... Eccola la verità... ti disprezzo e mi fai schifo.”


Eppure lui sente di aver fatto di tutto a cominciare dall’abbandono del suo sogno poco remunerativo di scrivere per il teatro.
Accetta di sceneggiare per il cinema, ambiente infido che, tuttavia, gli permette di acquistare una casa.
Lui crede che Emilia desideri questo: una casa da mettere in ordine, con una bella cucina da far splendere e che le permetta di preparare gustosi pranzetti.

Riccardo vive così un periodo di “oscuramento o, se si preferisce, da quel silenzio della mente che in simili circostanze sospende ogni giudizio e si rimette al solo amore per ogni valutazione della persona amata.”.

Talvolta crediamo di conoscere una persona mentre in realtà scopriamo di aver creato un simulacro.
Così’ anche la convinzione di aver sacrificato le proprie ambizioni per amore risulta essere un inganno come ingannevole è il mondo del cinema.
Lui sceneggiatore, ossia, lo scrittore che rimane nell’ombra dello sfavillio del grande schermo.
Il germe di ciò che oggi è una cosa di fatto la cultura americana imperante che domina in tutto e genera l’dea che sia solo il Kolossal ad essere degno d’investimenti:

“Siamo tutti d’accordo che nel cinema bisogna trovare qualche cosa di nuovo... ormai il dopoguerra è finito e si sente il bisogno di una formula nuova... il neorealismo, tanto per fare un esempio, ha stancato un po’ tutti... ora, analizzando i motivi per cui il cinema neorealistico ci ha stancati, potremo forse arrivare a capire quale potrebbe essere la formula nuova.”


Romanzo, insomma, che ha diverse chiavi di lettura.
L’ambientazione che dalla capitale si sposta all’isola di Capri; la dimensione psicologica delle relazioni di coppia, l’ambiente cinematografico ma anche la rilettura di un mito dove Ulisse e Penelope si allontanano dal poema sull’eroismo e la fedeltà per diventare emblema di un profondo disprezzo.

” Un brutto sogno in cui io mi chiamavo realmente Riccardo e avevo una moglie che si chiamava Emilia, e io l’amavo e lei non mi amava, anzi, mi disprezzava.”

[مجید اسطیری · Rating 3 out of 5]

انزجار که نام اصلی آن "تحقیر" است (و معلوم نیست پرویز شهدی چرا نام رمان را تغییر داده در حالی که واقعا مسئله اصلی راوی رمان تحقیر شدن در برابر عشق است) به واکاوی عشق از سه منظر می پردازد:
اسطوره، روانشناسی و ایده آل گرایی رمانتیک
بستر این بررسی سرگذشت اولیس در داستان اودیسه هومر است که راوی رمان قرار است فیلمنامه ای بر اساس آن بنویسد
اما سیر زندگی خانوادگی او به شکل جالبی شبیه به موقعیت اولیس و همسرش پنه لوپه پیش میرود
حالا او مانده است که کدام تعبیر از عشق و بی وفایی میتواند موقعیت او را توضیح بدهد:

_چرا برداشت های ما از شخصیت اولیس این چنین متفاوت بود؟ شخصیت سطحی، غیرمنطقی و مبتذلی که باتیستا (تهیه کننده پول پرست) از او می ساخت، با زندگی خودش، با خواست ها و یا در حقیقت با منافع شخصی اش مطابقت داشت. شخصیت کم وبیش محتمل، ولی مسکین و با سطح فکر محدودی که رین گولد (کارگردان آلمانی که به مکتب روانکاوی فروید تعلق خاطر دارد) ارائه می داد، با ویژگی های اخلاقی و هنری خود کارگردان هماهنگی داشت. و سرانجام شخصیت ارائه شده از طرف من، یعنی متعالی ترین، طبیعی ترین، شاعرانه ترین وحقیقی ترین شان، بی شک از آرزویی تحقق ناپذیر، ولی صادقانه نشأت می گرفت که در آن زندگی از آلودگی های مادی مبراست، جایی که آرمان جایگزین نظریه های روانشناختی و مادی گرایانه می شود. و چون تصویر ترجیحی من از اولیس بهترینش بود، خود برای من تسلایی به شمار می رفت. کاری که برایم می ماند این بود که خودم را با همان تصویری بنمایانم که نتوانسته بودم برای فیلمنامه به کارگردان و تهیه کننده تحمیل کنم، تصویری که طبعا در زندگی به دشواری می توانستم آن را به کرسی بنشانم. این تنها وسیله برای متقاعد کردن امیلی و به دست آوردن دوباره ی احترام و عشقش نسبت به خودم

برای علاقه مندان به رمان روانشناختی و کسانی که دوست دارند کاربرد اسطوره ها در رمان نویسی معاصر را ببینند جالب خواهدبود
اولین رمانی بود که از موراویا خواندم و چنان که میدانستم فضای تیره و نگاه بدبینانه ای به سرنوشت بشر معاصر داشت.

بعدالتحریر: فیلمی که ژان لوک گدار از روی این رمان اقتباس کرده را هم امشب دیدم. فیلم نسبتا به رمان پایبند است اما گدار کاملا مهر خودش را پای فیلم زده و قطعا دقائقی که موراویا در طراحی شخصیت ها و انگیزه هایشان رعایت کرده بود در فیلم درنیامده. نبینید اصلا چیزی را از دست نداده اید.
فیلمی که یک فرانسوی مکتب موج نو بر اساس رمان روانشناختی یک ایتالیایی سرخورده با بازی یک کارگردان سینمای اکسپرسیونیستی آلمان در نقش خوشد (فریتز لانگ) بسازد معلوم است چه آش شله قلمکاری میشود!

[Edita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Or perhaps I saw her defects and she saw mine, but, through some mysterious transformation produced by the feeling of love, such defects appeared to us both not merely forgivable but even lovable, as though instead of defects they had been positive qualities, if of a rather special kind. Anyhow, we did not judge: we loved each other.
*
The less one notices happiness, the greater it is.
*
I wondered how it came about that she, who loved me so much, failed to guess at the cruel anxieties that oppressed me;
*
I felt that the metal of my spirit, like a bar of iron that is softened and bent by a persistent flame, was being gradually softened and bent by the troubles that oppressed it.
*
And I, like a person who suddenly realizes he is hanging over an abyss, felt a kind of painful nausea at the thought that our intimacy had turned, for no reason at all, into estrangement, absence, separation.
*
But now, it seemed to me, [...] she had now become a semblance in a mirage, with a haze of impossibility, of nostalgia, about her, and infinitely remote, as though she were not only a few paces away from me but in some far-off region, outside reality and outside my personal feelings.
*
Each day, from the time when I got up in the morning, seemed like an arid desert, with no oasis of meditation or leisure, dominated by the merciless sun of forced cinema inspiration.
*
I deluded myself into believing that time would take it upon itself to solve my problems, without any effort on my part. Time, in fact, did solve them, but not in the way I should have wished. And so the days passed, in a dull, dim atmosphere of expectancy, with Emilia denying herself to me and myself denying myself to my work.
*
We too should be of a pure blue within our hearts, from which the clear calm of our sojourn by the sea would gradually wash away the sooty blackness of gloomy town thoughts—blue and with a blue light within us, like the lizards, like the sea, like the sky, like everything that is bright and gay and pure.

[فهد الفهد · Rating 4 out of 5]

الاحتقار

قرأت رواية مورافيا ومن ثم شاهدت فيلم غودار الذي اعتمد عليها، الفيلم برأيي لم يرتق للرواية، ويبدو أن غودار أنجزه بلا اهتمام حقيقي، إلى درجة تدخل المنتج وفرضه المشهد الافتتاحي على المخرج، بعيداً عن الفيلم الرواية رائعة وتضع القارئ في حالة نفسية من الترقب ومحاولة الفهم، بطل الرواية كاتب مسرحي تزوج امرأة جميلة، ثم قرر التوجه للعمل في كتابة السيناريو ليستطيع توفير منزل وسيارة لزوجته، ولكن هذه التضحيات وهذا الضغط النفسي الذي يتعرض له بسبب قيامه بعمل لا يحبه، يقابل ببرود وغياب لمشاعر الحب من زوجته، قبل أن تعلن بصراحة احتقارها لزوجها، ما الذي حدث؟ من أين جاءت مشاعر الاحتقار هذه؟ يحاول البطل اكتشاف ذلك من خلال مراجعة مواقف تعرضا لها، في ذات الوقت الذي يعرض عليه العمل على فيلم جديد مستوحى من الأوديسة، يعمل البطل مع مخرج ألماني وتتاح لهما حوارات تمكنه من مقارنة نفسه بيوليسس وعلاقته بزوجته بينيلوبي، كما يحاول كسر هذا الاحتقار بالتصرف كما تصرف يوليسس، فهل ينجح في ذلك؟ هل يستعيد قلب زوجته؟ أم يقضي هذا الاحتقار عليهما؟

[Kimley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my third Moravia and damn if he hasn't become one of my favorites now!

This is the anti-Homeric tale of the anti-Ulysses. The backdrop is a writer who takes on the dubious task of writing a script adaptation of Ulysses. Told in the first person by this screenwriter who clearly sees himself as an intellectual (referencing not only Homer but Dante and Joyce as well - woo hoo!) and sees himself as a man with integrity (no sea monsters in his script!) and yet he has a complete and utter lack of self-awareness. He believes his wife has fallen out of love with him and in his analysis of all the minutiae in his life he still fails to see THE POINT! And inevitably and immediately he creates a self-fulfilling prophecy of destruction and gloom for all of those around him. If Thomas Bernhard hadn't already written a book called "The Loser" I would suggest that it would make for an excellent alternate title for this particular book.

[Walter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not even sure the author gets what is going on in this narrative. I’ve seen the movie and then read the book. The movie’s distance really captures what is going on, the comment on consumer society: as merely because you own something doesn’t mean you’ll ever possess it, let alone understand it.

That being: Beauty. That’s what in this book everyone is trying to possess and understand. The woman possesses beauty but doesn’t own it. The writer understands it but doesn’t own or possess it. And the producer owns it but doesn’t understand or possess it.

All of them fail to understand the nature of Beauty. If you understand it you understand it can't be owned or possessed. It's a time, like a wave one night cresting that you see for the first time on the beach that you’ve walked on for years and the moon shows you a light on the water mixed with feeling of sand in your toes that only lasts a heartbeat, and a second breath. That’s what they hold in contempt, seemingly. Beauty. But they do so because they don’t understand its nature, and thus it becomes destructive, something to be wary of, even not want, or even sadly… hold in contempt.

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the greats among the greats. "Contempt" is a story about a screenwriter who loses his beautiful wife to his producer. Slowly the reader can see what's happening, and you just want to yell out at the page 'hey stupid, you are going to lose your beautiful wife to that awful man the producer!"

But alas it's too late. And here lies a story about a man who is blinded by his indifference to the world. A very romantic story of sorts that is not romantic.

A litle side note:

Jean-Luc Godard made this into an incredible film with Brigitte Bardot and Jack Palance. One of my all-time favorite films and book. One day on the bus I saw this beautiful girl reading not only "Contempt" but even better - a movie tie in mass market version of this novel. Vintage 1965. With Bardot on the cover, plus Godard's name as big as the author's (Alberto Moravia) name on the cover!

I was biting my lip till it bleed not to talk to this young beauty. Luckily she got off the bus. A week later I see her with another book: Andrew Loog Oldham's "Stoned." That is another favorite book of mine! And like "Contempt" very rare!

Now a normal person would think "oh we share the same taste in rare books." But instead I became totally paranoid thinking she was trying to trap me. She even smiled at me once our eyes met. I looked away! And I never saw her again. If you pretty girl are on goodreads, look me up.

[Fotooh Jarkas · Rating 4 out of 5]

رواية سايكولوجية رائعة ، أبدع فيها الكاتب بدراسة وتشخيص خواطر النفس البشرية لقصة تبدو لوهلة أنها نادرة جدا
الخاطرة التي راودت ريتشارد :
"إن الخادم يستطيع أن يفعل كل شيء ، باستثناء عصيان معلمه ،وإن الدهاء والتبجيل اللذين يحاول بهما أن يتجنب عصيان سيده ،هما أشد إذلالا من الطاعة الكاملة."
لخصت مغزى القصة عندي فقد كان السيد المستبد في الرواية هو حبه لزوجته .

بدا الكاتب محتارا في كيفية إنهاء قضية نفسية من هذا النوع فقرر إنهاءها كيفما اتفق ..
تراوحت النهاية بين وهم عودة الزوجة و الحياة الطبيعية ، وبين غيابها الأبدي على نحو درامي مفاجئ ، ما أوحى بأن هنك شيء من التردد يسكن هذه النهاية المزدوجة .
أعتقد أن الروايات التي يكفنها الموت تعطي جوابا مريحا لأكثر القصص تعقيدا ، جواب لا تمن به الحياة علينا إلا نادرا أو أبدا ..
الموت الهادئ هو نهاية تحتكرها الروايات الحالمة فقط ..
وهذا ما أفقد الروااية نجمتها الخامسة !

[Marcello S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vorrei descrivere la qualità intima di questo silenzio perché fu quella sera che esso si stabilì per la prima volta tra noi, per non abbandonarci mai più. Dunque era un silenzio insopportabile perché perfettamente negativo, fatto della soppressione di tutte le cose che avrei voluto dire e che mi sentivo incapace di dire.

Potrei ovviamente sbagliarmi, ma mi sono fatto l’idea che, in proporzione alla fama, Moravia sia oggi uno tra gli autori meno letti. Forse è un po’ fuori moda.
Il Disprezzo è un libro che mette a fuoco questioni ampie: identità, relazioni, malessere. Che esplora la sensibilità umana ed evoca la fragilità e l’inquietudine a cui può portare l’amore. Inquadra il dramma interiore dell’uomo moderno, fatto di ostilità e impotenza.
Fa pensare a Houellebecq. Godard ci ha fatto un film.
Notevole. [77/100]

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Contempt by Roberto Moravia

During the first two years of our married life my relations with my wife were, I can now assert, perfect. By which I mean to say that, in those two years, a complete, profound harmony of the senses was accompanied by a kind of numbness—or should I say silence?—of the mind which, in such circumstances, causes an entire suspension of judgment and looks only to love for any estimate of the beloved person. Emilia, in fact, seemed to me wholly without defects, and so also, I believe, I appeared to her. Or perhaps I saw her defects and she saw mine, but, through some mysterious transformation produced by the feeling of love, such defects appeared to us both not merely forgivable but even lovable, as though instead of defects they had been positive qualities, if of a rather special kind. Anyhow, we did not judge: we loved each other. This story sets out to relate how, while I continued to love her and not to judge her, Emilia, on the other hand, discovered, or thought she discovered, certain defects in me, and judged me and in consequence ceased to love me.

Contempt was written in 1954 by the Italian Roberto Moravia. It is a short novel at 250 pages. It caught my attention as one of Le Monde’s 100 books of the 20th century.

*** Mild Spoiler ***

In Contempt we follow our protagonist, Riccardo. There are only three substantial characters and we are shown the story completely from Ricardo’s point of view. We see his fragile ego and how his outlook spirals downward as the story progresses. His problems are purely marital ones. Emilia, his wife, comes to despise Riccardo. Most of the book moves along these lines. What struck me is how plausible the story seems and in spite of everything why they remain married.

Riccardo is a screenwriter working on a script for a modern adaptation of Ulysses. Bautista is the director of the project and he needs Ricardo at an on-location setting, a beautiful town on the Mediterranean. While discussing the script, Bautista gets frustrated that Riccardo is projecting his own problems and turning Ulysses’ story into one about marriage. Emilia has also come on the trip with Riccardo although they are barely speaking at this point.

The kicker is that Riccardo soon finds out that Bautista and Emilia are intent on committing adultery. This sets him into a fury and he quits the project. His subsequent responses and especially the ending are realistic but not what I expected.

*** End of mild spoiler ***

A tale as old as time — marital dissatisfaction — told entirely from one character’s point of view. The story reminded me a little of Revolutionary Road. The imagery of the Italian locations in the story were also memorable.

While this novel is recognized as a literary classic there is definitely a je ne sais quoi to it that both pleased and perplexed me.

5 stars

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moravia has quietly (over several years) became one of my favorite authors to read. The way he forms sentences makes it a pleasure not only to read, but to think about while reading. The introspection within is a treasure, but the main act is the dialogue, which frankly plays more of a minor role, but hits hard.

This is best read at one sitting (if you have the time) or in two sittings, if possible. With this, break the continuity as little as possible. Think while you read and don't ponder it between sessions. It is a joy, indeed.

[NightLights · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just couldn't stop reading.

[Mikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

It doesn't happen often that I catch myself yelling aloud at the characters in a book. Some people scream at TVs (you know who you are), whereas I, when thoroughly provoked by a character, will go beyond the eyes-to-the-sky, heavy sighing, rapid paper cut inducing turning of pages and just let loose on a narrator. And If an author has me so engaged that I'm picking fights with paper? Well, then they've done their job.

4th page, second paragraph in and I'm already getting tight. Wait a minute…what??? I go back and read from the beginning. That's what I thought. This guy is talking in circles and either takes me for an idiot or else he truly believes in what he's saying and is therefore delusional. Doesn't matter because I'm hooked-- a totally unreliable character who bends the truth like a worn out Gumby doll is my absolute favorite.

Poor Riccardo. Literary genius that he is (all you have to do is look at him) --

"I saw myself as a young man whose thinness, short sight, nervousness, pallor and carelessness in dress all bore witness, in anticipation, of the literary glory for which I was destined."

-- forced to forgo his true calling as "…a man of culture, a writer for the theater--the 'art' theater.." and instead, accept work as a menial scriptwriter in order to please his wife's insatiable need for more money and higher living standards. Selfless martyr.

But is she happy? NO!!! Emilia is NEVER happy despite all that he does. Obviously, she doesn't love him anymore, thinks lowly of his profession and in all probability, has taken on a lover. But is any of this true? Why of course it is and in 251 pages of the most mind spinning prose, Riccardo Molteni sets out to prove it to you.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was agonizingly good. Read it if you want to witness (and perhaps relive) the rather rapid disintegration of a long-term relationship, step by torturous step. Each niggling doubt, each pang of hurt and betrayal, each willful choice to ignore one's intuition and instead select a creative interpretation of the incontrovertible facts. How does love turn into contempt? After the fact, it is usually too difficult (as well as painful and potentially self-incriminating) to let ourselves remember. As it is easier to simply weep, we are thus left with a blur of memories that we'd just as soon forget. This book reminds us of the process. Although it was often very painful and sad to read, there was something immensely helpful on a personal level in being able to follow so astutely the descent of a relationship. The psychology is excruciatingly spot-on. The sentences were complex and convoluted, and the word choices were always meticulous. I am very impressed by Moravia, and I look forward to reading much more of him.

[Vince Will Iam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mesmerizing! It was my second Moravia and it went well beyond my expectations. The picturesque Neapolitan setting contrasts marvelously with Moravia's depressing study of unrequited love and an unhappy marriage. Whether it be the world of cinema or Homer's Odyssey, all those themes fit perfectly with the main plot. I came to identify in some ways with the narrator, Riccardo Molteni - the cerebral type, who always looks on the bright side. To be read any day and imagine yourself facing the sea on top of a cliff in Capri... There is a superb finale (see the "Faraglioni" below). I can't wait to watch the Godard movie. It was bound to be on-screen.

[Thomas Hübner · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://www.mytwostotinki.com/?p=3285

Riccardo and Emilia are happily married for two years in post-war Rome. While Riccardo, the intelligent and likeable, though slightly narcissistic and delusional narrator, works as a journalist writing film critics to make a living, his dream is to become a serious writer and novelist. His beautiful wife Emilia, coming from an impoverished family, dreams on the other hand of living in their own house and of creating a comfortable nest for them, something much better than the rented room in which the financially struggling couple lives. When Riccardo is offered work as a screenwriter by the film producer Battista, he decides to accept this work despite serious reservations. He considers this kind of work as a waste of time and talent, but since it is comparatively well paid, he can fulfil his wife’s dream and buy a small flat; at a later stage, also a car, another sign of his growing success in the eyes of society. But on his way upward in the social hierarchy, something happens to the relationship between Emilia and Riccardo: Emilia becomes reserved and grows cold toward her husband, love turns into indifference and even into hatred and contempt. Contempt is also the title of the novel by Alberto Moravia that I am reviewing here.

Moravia has been praised for his elegant prose, and I can see why, even when I read the book in German translation. The prose is flowing effortlessly, the dialogues of the tormented Riccardo who wants to find out the reason for the growing estrangement between him and his wife, and Emilia sound very real and convincing. Another thing I admire especially in this book is his talent to keep the reader’s interest in a seemingly rather trivial story of alienation between husband and wife by adding some other interesting aspects.

One of the issues that play a major role in the novel, is the relationship between success and money, and the real needs and wishes of people; the characters are forced to do things that are in contrast with what they really want in order to make a living, or to satisfy the (vain) dreams of their partners, or to be perceived as successful and dynamic in a capitalist society. That’s not only true for Riccardo and Emilia, but also for the other two major characters of the novel, Battista and Rheingold, a German film director who is commissioned by Battista to make a monumental movie adaptation of The Odyssey. (In Jean-Luc Godard’s film based on the novel, this character is played by Fritz Lang!)

Battista and Rheingold have strongly opposing approaches to the movie and Homer’s epic. While Battista wants to produce a monumental adventure movie, Rheingold on the other hand is only interested in the psychological conflict that he sees as the reason for Odysseus (Ulysses) participation in the War of Troy, and his delayed return to Penelope. According to his Freudian reading, Odysseus participates in the war because he wants to escape an unhappy relationship: he feels not loved by his wife. For the same reason, it takes him many years to come home. While Riccardo rejects Rheingold’s in his eyes simplistic psychoanalytic approach to Homer’s work, he understands reluctantly that what Rheingold says for the relationship between Odysseus and Penelope is like a mirror regarding his own and Emilia’s relationship and the reason for the obvious alienation between the partners may be a very similar one.

While Moravia is showing us a rather bleak picture of the modern Western world, where money, success, and sex serve as substitutes for a more meaningful existence, his reference to Homer seems to say that it has in principle been always like this. Emilio’s (and Moravia’s) membership in the Communist Party may be more inspired by a vague Utopian hope of a better future than by a real wish for a social revolution or dictatorship of the proletariat. In the meantime, it is best to acknowledge the mechanisms of the inherent contradictions of capitalist society. If Riccardo would have had more time to resolve the basic conflict and predicament of his life with Emilia, it would have been best to divorce and focus his future life on what he really aspires to be, a novelist and serious author. A sudden blow of fate spares him from actively taking this decision on his own.

Moravia knew the film business well; he worked also as a script writer and met probably people very similar as those described in his novel. Contempt describes an at that time thriving film industry in Italy as he experienced it, and the picture he is painting is not a particularly flattering one. Moravia had also a house on Capri similar as the one owned by Battista in the novel, where the final crisis takes place (the Godard movie was shot partly at the Casa Malaparte, another rather famous villa on Capri). And it is also known that at the time he published Contempt, his own marriage with novelist Elsa Morante was in a crisis that ended in divorce a few years later. So, while the novel is not a strictly autobiographic one, Moravia knew about what he was writing and was able to transform this into a rather short, fascinating novel. While some other so-called “existentialist” novels have not aged very well, Contempt was a surprisingly fresh book to me, and I guess I will soon read more by this author.

A word about the movie Le Mépris by Godard, which I have mentioned above: overall a good movie in my opinion, and the fact that Godard made a few major changes compared to the novel doesn’t distract from the quality of the film. The setting, particularly the scenes at the Casa Malaparte, is next to perfect for this movie. However, I had the impression that Brigitte Bardot and Jack Palance were not really the right choices for two of the major roles (while Michel Piccoli is brilliant); therefore, it is for me a good movie, but not the masterpiece it could have been with a more adequate cast of characters.

Contempt was also published in English as A Ghost at Noon.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

not even joking when i say this book cured my anxious attachment style more than years of therapy