Disobedience

Alberto Moravia; Translated by Angus Davidson

Published by Secker & Warburg, London, 1950

About this Item

First Edition ( 'First Published 1950' ). You can see the covers of the book in the photos. The blue has faded to tan at the spine ends due to losses on the dust jacket. These two tanned areas are the sole reason for the Minus in the condition rating. The covers are quite clean. There is a little bit more color fade at the top edges of the front and rear cover. The silver lettering on the spine is quite bright. The top cover edges are tanned as well. All of the edges are in solid shape. All four corners have small spots of rubbing. The page edges are mostly clean, one small spot on the middle edge. It does not migrate onto the actual pages.The book is square and the spine is straight. The binding is solid from cover to cover. I'm not finding any cracks or spaces at the junctures between any of the facing pages or between the covers, which are tight, and any of the pages. The pages are exceptionally clean and in very good shape. I'm not finding any soiling or creasing. There are no markings, no attachments, and the only writing is the signature of a previous owner on the front inside cover, next to it a tiny square shadow, probably from a removed label/sticker. The dust jacket can be seen in the first few photos, large losses at the spine ends, loss at the front top right corner. The flaps are in great shape, very clean, no wear, red print. The jacket is NOT price-clipped, not clipped at all. I've always had it in a fitted protective cover. From the dust jacket: 'This short and beautifully developed study of a critical phase of adolescent life bears a certain resemblance to the earlier story of a younger boy, Agostino, the first book by Alberto Moravia to appear in English translation after the war. Luca, at the age of fifteen, returns from a holiday by the sea to find that he cannot settle down again to school life; and, indeed, can no longer find pleasure in anything. He has violent outbursts of temper, takes refuge in rebellion and disobedience, and begins to find a perverted pleasure in doing all the things he is supposed not to do. He drops all his school chums and loses all affection for his parents. He decides, in his extreme disgust for everything around him, that death is the only solution for his maladjustment: not by suicide-- this idea never occurs to him-- but he imagines that he will achieve his purpose by an intense contemplation of the idea of death and by eating less and less. Luca falls seriously ill. When, after three months of fever and delirium, he begins to get well again, he finds that he no longer wishes to die. This book is a remarkable tour-de-force. With sensitive and sympathetic insight Moravia penetrates into the recesses of the adolescent mind. He interprets unfalteringly the still bewildered experiences of the speedily developing intelligence, athirst for truth and guidance, and eager to face approaching manhood.' 'Alberto Moravia was an Italian novelist and journalist. His novels explored matters of modern sexuality, social alienation and existentialism. Several of his novels were made into films: The Conformist by Bernardo Bertolucci. Contempt by Jean-Luc Godard and Two Women by Vittorio De Sica, among others. Moravia once remarked that the most important facts of his life had been his illness, a tubercular infection of the bones that confined him to a bed for five years, and Fascism, because they both caused him to suffer and do things he otherwise would not have done. "It is what we are forced to do that forms our character, not what we do of our own free will." Moravia's writing was rooted in the tradition of 19th-century narrative, underpinned by high social and cultural awareness. He believed 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". Between 1959 and 1962 Moravia was president of PEN International.'.

Seller Inventory # 004127

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Disobedience
• Publisher: Secker & Warburg, London
• Publication Date: 1950
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Very Good Minus
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fair
• Seller catalogs:
  • Fiction, Novels, Short Stories
  • Italy, Italian
  • Literature