Contempt

by Alberto Moravia, Tim Parks (Introduction), Angus Davidson (Translator)

Contempt is a brilliant and unsettling work by one of the revolutionary masters of modern European literature. All the qualities for which Alberto Moravia is justly famous ~~ his cool clarity of expression, his exacting attention to psychological complexity and social pretension, his still-striking openness about sex—are evident in this story of a failing marriage. Contempt (which was to inspire Jean-Luc Godard’s no-less-celebrated film) is an unflinching examination of desperation and self-deception in the emotional vacuum of modern consumer society.

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

251 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

[Dominik Hudec]

Verné a často ubolené načŕtanie všetkých tých odtieňov horkosti, ktoré ukazuje človek niekomu, kto býval blízky, ale odcudzil sa.

[Veronika Matuscinova]

Ze co si myslím? Pohŕdam pohŕdani. Co chcel vlastne hlavní hrdina? Ja som mala pocit, že si vybojoval vždy to, čo chcel hlavne od manželky.

[Natália B]

200 strán o tom, že chlapa treba trafiť lopatou po hlave, aby niečo pochopil