SOURCE: A review of More Roman Tales, in The New York Review of Books, July 30, 1964, pp. 13-14.

In the following excerpt, Arrowsmith praises Moravia's craftsmanship as a storyteller in More Roman Tales.

[Alberto Moravia's] reputation is doubtless inflated, and the importance of his novels (as opposed to his novellas and short stories) is surely exaggerated. But this is his critics' doing, not his. As a man Moravia may very well be vain, but he is the least pretentious writer in Italy: his whole career has been a long protest against inflation of any kind, whether Fascist rhetoric or fake postures. (Admittedly, there is always Moravia the sentimental populist and fellow traveler, but this is presumably an honest delusion). Limited by a glum and gloomy vision of life ("the bleak Columbus of boredom," a critic once described him), he has loyally stuck to his perceptions without ever thinking of...