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Read Conjugal Love (2007)

Conjugal Love (2007)

Online Book

Rating
3.6 of 5 Votes: 2
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ISBN
1590512219 (ISBN13: 9781590512210)
Language
English
Publisher
other press

Conjugal Love (2007) - Plot & Excerpts

3.5Leggere Moravia è scoprire sempre un po' di sé, conoscersi inaspettatamente meglio, trovare le giuste parole alle proprie sensazioni che spesso sono intraducibili. La sua scrittura è lucida. Sempre. Ed è proprio questa sua caratteristica che rende i suoi libri ogni volta un vero godimento per gli occhi, un balsamo che aiuta a districare i pensieri più aggrovigliati. La trama è semplice, ma lo sviluppo interiore dei personaggi non lo è affatto. Il protagonista fallisce in tutto. Cerca di essere un buon marito e un buon scrittore, ma viene tradito e il suo libro risulta mediocre. L'influenza di Dostoevksij in questo libro è molto forte, nelle continue riflessioni, nelle continue paturnie del protagonista. Il protagonista inizialmente mi è sembrato un po' ingenuo, troppo preso dal suo lavoro, dalla sua glorificazione e dal suo ego, non s'accorge delle esigenze della moglie (che, infatti, finisce poi per tradirlo). (Il resto dei racconti, proprio perché erano pieni di trama, non mi sono piaciuti più di tanto...).Ancora una volta soddisfatta e contenta di averlo letto. "Al primo sguardo che le lanciai di dietro mi spaventai perché improvvisamente mi sembrò che anche lei, come le parole del manoscritto, non fosse che un segno nello spazio. Dissi piano: "Leda", e mi parve di dire la cosa più assurda del mondo. Dissi ancora:" Mi chiamo Silvio Baldeschi e ho sposato una donna che si chiama Leda", e mi parve di non aver detto nulla. Mi venne ad un tratto in mente che avrei potuto uscire da quest'aria di irrealtà soltanto ricevendo o infliggendo un dolore: per esempio afferrando per i capelli mia moglie, gettandola in terra su sassi aguzzi del sentiero, e ricevendo da lei in risposta un buon calcio nello stinco. Allo stesso modo forse ,mi sarei destato al valore del mio manoscritto strappandolo e gettandolo nel fuoco. Queste riflessioni mi diedero un senso vivo di pazzia: dunque non era possibile afferrare l'esistenza di se stessi o degli altri se non attraverso il dolore. Ma mi consolai un poco pensando che se così era, se non soltanto ciò che avevo scritto ma anche mia moglie che sapevo di amare, mi sembrava incomprensibile, questo senso di assurdità allora non dipendeva dalla qualità del mio manoscritto, bensì da me stesso".

What to say about this book?One can not say much without saying the plot. And that is not a disadvantage. For, the blurb of the book already reveals the plot. The difference or the specialty of the book lies in in its narration filled with deep penetrating insights into sexuality, conjugal love, social/moral conventions vs instinct, writing, and the act of writing a novel and a critical review of any novel.The Plot:It is about a married couple (Silvio and Leda) and about the love between the spouses - CONJUGAL LOVEL. Silvio is an aspiring writer and is obsessed with an impossible aim of becoming a great writer. Leda is a simple woman who loves her husband truly. And then comes the temptation in the form of Antonio, the barber of Silvio.At the end, Conjugal Love triumphs. Why?Here is the definition for conjugal love given by Alberto Moravia: "One can't pronounce an opinion when one loves....Just because I love you, although I know you very well, I too could not pass judgment on you...When one loves someone, one loves every aspect of that person-defects and all."Finally: The review till now expressed has given only one angle of the story. There are other angles. For instance, if you are a writer you will find many interesting observations on your own life. Silvio, when writing a novel undergoes so many tough periods and the final product and the way he cherishes the moment is very much autobiographical. Thus, a reader gets a glimpse into the making of a book by an author and an author might find a companion. And an aspiring author might get encouragement in moments of despair. A special mention: Chapter 14 is a lesson on how to write a book review/a critical essay on a novel.It is a short book that is very tense and dense.

What do You think about Conjugal Love (2007)?

In his villa in Tuscany in October 1937, Silvio — a rich dilettante who dreams of becoming a famous writer — decides that his most important story, perhaps his only story, is his intense, unlimited love for his wife Leda. He admires her affectionate nature, her obedience to his whims, and what he insists is her great beauty — although he notes that her nose is too long and she has other imperfections, besides not being, in his view, especially bright. But her lack of wit and culture — which he tries to remedy by reading poetry to her — is more than compensated by her erotic experience, with her first husband and other previous lovers. This history makes her more exciting to Silvio, who observes Leda only to the extent that her behavior, in bed or at the dinner table, affects his own sensual comfort. So unobservant is he that he doesn't even notice what every reader suspects from the earliest hint, that she is about to have an adventure with the most un-Silvio man in sight, the swarthy, hairy, balding Sicilian barber that Silvio has hired to shave him every morning. We never see Leda except through Silvio's eyes, but even with such limited vision, we glimpse a bolder personality. In the end, though Silvio discovers her adventure, he finds it easier to deny it, and thus commits this book-length declaration of conjugal love which may deceive only himself. The novel is an amusing intrigue, as much for what it says about the hesitations and delusions of a beginning writer as for its erotic escapade.
—Geoffrey Fox

„Nici un alt scriitor nu poate sa redea batalia dintre sexe in termeni mai atroce. Sexul e boala, dragostea – o napasta. Un scriitor mai putin inzestrat nu s-ar fi achitat de aceasta dificila sarcina, insa Moravia este un povestitor de prima mina.” (Time)Volumul Iubitul nefericit (1943) reuneste sapte povestiri, scrise cu eleganta si fluiditate. Fie ca este vorba despre un pusti a carui imaginatie infierbintata il face sa intre in conflict cu o pisica, fie ca itele povestii dau la iveala motive mai tulburatoare, precum incompatibilitatea erotica ce duce la disperare continua, muta, mai mult, la nepotrivirea individului cu insasi matca vietii sale, Moravia surprinde cu limpezime poetica momente de cumpana, de formare, din existenta personajelor. Tema iubirii infuzeaza aproape toate textele: pe rind, ea este tradata, devine chinuitoare cind nu este marturisita cum se cuvine sau consumata, de cele mai multe ori raminind in stadiul de contemplatie, cea a martorului neputincios, care nu reuseste sa ia in miini firele vietii sale. Imaturitatea emotionala e pusa la incercare, calita, iar rigiditatea individului pasiv, imbolnavit de ritualizarea vietii, e si ea chestionata.de la sursă: Iubitul nefericit – SemneBune http://semnebune.ro/2011/iubitul-nefe...
—Semnebune

Moravia's common theme of misunderstood love between two people very much in love is central to this novel. Conjugal Love takes place in the romantic and beautiful countryside of Tuscany, a place where passions are always aflame and love is consummated eternally, an ideal place for a writer and his young wife to pass away the days dreaming sweet dreams together.The protagonist, Silvio, a wealthy man with literary ambitions, seeks solitude in his surroundings in the country to finish a novel. He sets up house with his wife, whom has very little to do. After some effort, when he fails to produce anything worthy, his confidence wanes and so does his time for love-making with his wife, Leda. One day, Leda confesses to Silvio that the local barber, employed by her husband, made indecent advances on her. Silvio, unable to believe his wife, dismisses her accusations and this is where their marriage begins to fall apart.Moravia's exceptional technique in painting a psychological portrait of both Silvio and Leda is both honest and penetrating. Passion, love, romance. However much we possess of them, they do little to disencumber the mistrust and unresolved tension stemming from mis-understanding. Although this book is not one of Moravia's more famous works, it is nonetheless worth reading.
—Gertrude & Victoria

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