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
