SOURCE: "Moravia and the Philosophy of Personal Existence," in Italian Quarterly, Vol. II, No. 41, Summer, 1967, pp. 39-68.

In the following excerpt, Rimanelli examines the social, Freudian, and existential elements in Agostino and La disubbidienza.

Alberto Moravia belongs to the group of Italian Neorealiste whose art was formed out of the Fascist period. Many of the themes and much of the style of these Neorealists have been the outcome of the impetus of American Realists who were translated by Vittorini, Cecchi, Pavese and others in the 1930's. The themes of the alienation from society, the autonomy of the individual, and "the misfit" are reflected upon in such novels as Huckleberry Finn and, later, The Catcher in the Rye. Moravia is to be differentiated from the first generation of writers in this century for he does not speak about the "call of Art," and his style is the opposite of...