Conjugal Love

“Reading Alberto Moravia’s Conjugal Love will take only a couple of hours—fortunately. For once you start this intense short novel, you won’t be able to turn your eyes away…Marina Harss’s English carries us smoothly into Silvio’s mind, as he reflects on his art and on his wife until each gradually grows into an aspect of the other.” —Washington Post

“Moravia, who died in 1990 and is considered one of the preeminent Italian writers of the twentieth century, delivers something at once more bitter and more tender: a parable of marriage, that odd mixture of violent devotion and legitimate lust, in which desire eventually gives way to a forced and decorous composure that captures the essential opacity of even one’s most intimate partner.” —The New Yorker

“Conjugal Love is deceptively complicated, a string of intense moments, revelations, and doubts. Can we ever know the people we love? What lies at the heart of and drives our creativity? How terrifying would it be to really understand yourself?” —Los Angeles Times

“Alberto Moravia crafts a delectably arch tale of a wealthy dilettante and his sensually neglected wife.” —Vogue

“A short novel whose surface clarity shellacs over its shriekingly bizarre underpinnings. When the book was published in 1951, the Italian author was well known for his moody portraits of sexuality, and this excellent new translation shows why.” —Time Out New York

“Moravia…is a master storyteller and his political commentary never overpowers his narrative. The beauty of Conjugal Love is that, politics aside, it can be read simply as a compelling tale of love and betrayal.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Throughout his long and astonishingly productive career, Alberto Moravia never stopped exploring the erotic highways and byways. Of course, he tended to look on the dark side. Readers of his many fictions will search in vain for a life-affirming roll in the hay. Instead Moravia zoomed in on the pitfalls, power struggles, and multiple deceptions of eros. Think of him as the Beethoven of bad sex, blessed with a glittering style and the emotional temperature of an icebox. Conjugal Love is no exception to the rule.” —Words Without Borders

“To read Alberto Moravia’s Conjugal Love is to be transported to the lush landscape of 1930s Tuscany. But the pleasure that comes from this amazing little book rests squarely with Silvio, the beguiling protagonist who leads readers to the story’s central conceit…Read this terrific book. It will make you want to say something kind to someone you love.” —Washington Times

“Moravia…achieves a sly, convincing portrait in the voice of Silvio, whose love for Leda emasculates him, yet fuels his work.” —Publishers Weekly

“Boasting a fluid style that is elegant yet simple, Moravia is a master of writing about men and women and their love lives.” —Library Journal

“Silvio’s very open, almost confessional style—he reveals (and seems to almost revel in) warts and all—is very appealing and makes the story all the more convincing. Conjugal Love is not a happy tale, but it is a satisfying one. And very well told. Recommended.” —Complete Review

Alberto Moravia, born in Rome in 1907, was one of the greatest Italian writers of the twentieth century. His novels, which include The Woman of Rome, The Conformist, Contempt, and Two Women, were adapted into films by Bernardo Bertolucci and Jean-Luc Godard. He died in 1990.

Marina Harss’s translations include For Solo Violin (Per Vionlino Solo), a war memoir by Aldo Zargani, and stories in The Forbidden Stories of Marta Veneranda, by Sonia Rivera-Vald. Her translations have also appeared in Bomb, Brooklyn Rail, and Autadafe. She is a researcher at The New Yorker, and lives in New York City.

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