Alberto Moravia Biography

Alberto Moravia was a renowned Italian novelist and journalist. He authored novels which explored modern sexuality, social alienation and existentialism. He had a keen moralistic approach which focuses mainly on the iniquities of a bourgeois society. Someone who portrayed social alienation and loveless sexuality as the theme in his novels, he was a prominent figure in 20th century Italian literature. It is said almost one billion copies of his books were sold in United States during 1940’s and 1950’s. Besides founding literary review magazines like “Characters” and “Today”, he used to write for the newspaper “La Gazetta del Popolo”. He also founded a literary magazine, titled “New Arguments”. Besides writing prefaces to works like Belli’s “100 Sonnets” and Stendhal’s “Roman Walks”, he also wrote critical review of films for weekly magazine “L’Europeo” and “L’Espresso”. His noteworthy novel “The Empty Canvas” won the Viareggio Prize and its story provided inspiration for a film by Damiano Damiani. The book became so popular that another film, “The Ennui” was also made based on its story. He also won the title of ‘European Personality’ and received prestigious awards like the Strega and Viareggio. His popularity can be gauged from the fact that his works were translated into 27 languages.