SOURCE: "Moravia's America," in Western Humanities Review, Vol. XVIII, No. 4, Autumn, 1964, pp. 315-59.

In the following excerpt, Heiney examines Moravia's portrayal of the "Americanization" of Italy in Roman Tales, New Roman Tales, and Conjugal Love.

[In many of Alberto Moravia's] stories and tales written after 1945, American culture plays an important part, and it is the part of the prepotente. It stands for strength, vigor, and success, and in this sense it is contrasted to Italian culture which represents the opposite: weakness, decadence, and failure. But this neat contrast is valid only in a limited sense. By 1943 . . . there were signs of a new vigor in Italian culture. Two examples were the anti-Fascist Resistance and the remarkable resurgence of Italian fiction, in which Moravia himself had taken part along with Vittorini, Pavese, Silone, and others. Another was the "economic miracle" of 1950-60, the new industrial prosperity that had transformed Italy...