Moravia’s Agostino

Hi everyone!

Today, I’m going to be reflecting on Alberto Moravia’s novel, Agostino.

I figure most people would have noticed this, but while reading the novel, I was immediately reminded of the psychoanalytic theory of the Oedipus complex. This theory, in short, highlights the idea that children view their opposite-sex parent in a sexual manner while treating their same-sex parent as competition. This goes on until the child finally starts to view their same-sex parent as a role model, and eventually lets go of their sexual desires for the opposite-sex parent. Right off the bat, the way Agostino talks about and views his mother highlights this very principle. At the beginning of the novel, his descriptions and feelings were far more innocent and childish, yet still very uncomfortable. However, later on in the novel, –specifically after he meets with Berto and the rest of the boys– Agostino’s thoughts start seeming more explicit and sexual, thus, marking the beginning of his sexual awakening.  For example, this description of Agostino talking about his mother really stood out to me, mainly because of how uncomfortable it made me: “Her arms were raised to unhook the clasp of the necklace, lending her back a movement that could be seen through the transparent fabric, making the furrow that divided her expanse of tanned flesh blur and fade into two different backs, one lower and beneath the kidneys, the other higher and nearer the nape of the neck. Her armpits opened to the air like the jaws of two snakes, the soft long hairs like thin black tongues protruding as if eager to escape the heavy, sweaty constriction of her arms….” (pg. 43). Just knowing he is talking about his mother didn’t sit right with me. Nonetheless, I think Moravia does an amazing job of constructing a true coming-of-age novel, highlighting specifically the aspect of sexual awakening and the confusion that comes with it, despite his writing being uncomfortable to read at times.

Moreover, something I noticed while reading the novel was the use of “the mother”. Immediately this stood out to me since it felt slightly odd that Agostino’s mother was referred to as “the mother”. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of this since it very well could have been due to the writing style or something that came through during the translation process since throughout the novel many other characters were also addressed with ‘the’ before their description/character. However, it also could have been intentional, perhaps highlighting Agostino and his mother’s Oedipal relationship and/or drawing attention to the disconnect and power imbalance between the two characters. For my question(s) of this post, I would like to know what you made of this? Did you notice the use of “the mother” to be strange or striking? Or did it seem normal to you? If strange, how so? And what do you think could be a reason for this?

: )