Student Blogs

This week I decided to read Agostino by Alberto Moravia. It was a short and easy read as advertised. Though this was definitely the easiest read so far, I have mixed feelings on this story. In short summary, this story follows 13 year old Agostino throughout his summer vacation at a beach in Italy. The young teen sees his widowed mother move on with a new man, all while exploring a brand new friend group that seems to revolve around violence and behaviours that stem from poverty. I would call this reading something along the lines of a coming-of-age story, as Agostino discovers sexuality and straddles the line between childhood and manhood. 

While I honestly did quite enjoy this story, i found parts of it mildly disturbing. For a while the young 13 year old talks about his mother as a beautiful, inspiring and nurturing role model. For the first few pages he speaks about her with such innocence, and even refers to her as "mamma" plenty of times throughout the novel. However, when Agostino finds himself hanging out with the boys from Vespucci beach, he is introduced to the idea of sexuality, an idea that had never previously crossed his mind. With this new knowledge, he starts to view his mother as a subject of sexual desire. This quite honestly confused me at first. As disturbing as it sounds, I couldn't tell if the author was trying to imply that the young boy genuinly found his mother sexually appealing, or was simply just using her as a general example to display the sexual awakening the Agostino had undergone. Regardless some of the wording and ways Agostino would describe his mothers body seemed inappropriate. 

Another thing that I thought was interesting about this story, was Saro's relationship with the group of young boys. From what I understood, he was a 50 year pedophile. Other than the hand holding incident that occurred on the boat, the author only alluded to other experiences the boys had had with him. I feel like that storyline was a bit incomplete and i would have liked to have known why he was hanging out with them in the first place, as well as what the other boys had experienced with Saro, and why they continued to hang around him knowing what he does.

My question to you: Did you find Agostino's thoughts about his mother inappropriate? or do you think this is a normal thought process for a 13 year old to have when discovering sexual identity. 

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I realise this may be a somewhat unconventional way to start a blog post that is meant to be part of the course content however, my reading of Agostino was made of up of confusion and feeling unnerved. Whenever I open a new book to read, whatever the reason may be, my first thought is […] read full post >>

 There is so much to think about after reading Agostino. Although I'm confused, not confused in the way where I don't understand the story, because I definitely understand why this story was written, but confused in the way where I have never seen a book take on growing up, sexuality, etc.. the way this one did, and it leaves me with many thoughts. 

I may have said The Shrouded Woman was my favourite so far, but this one now takes the lead. Out of all of the novels I have read so far this one felt the most modern in a way, in terms of writing style and overall content which made it very easy to understand and almost felt like something I picked up myself and started reading, not something for an assignment. 

After the first few pages of this novel I could already catch on to what the themes of the story were. There are a couple things that I don't know necessarily if they have the correct take on, but I'm not one to say they aren't correct either. We've seen these concepts in Psychology courses, specifically the Freudian Oedipus Complex. 

This coming of age novel takes ideas from inside of a young boys mind and sees how growing up and going through puberty may really feel. There is such an interesting relationship described with his mother. It is mother son love presented in a way that almost sexualizes it, which left me very confused but also curious to read on and see how Agostinos mind is perceiving this love for his mother. Although I can't say that this is really how things are growing up, I think the book did a really good job at thoroughly explaining these sexual and jealous feelings that Agostino was feeling to help readers understand

There was one part where Agostino mentions this "hatred" for his mother that leaves his cheeks burning is what he lives for. Like he waits for this burning jealousy to be lit in him everyday, and as much as he despises it and wants to hate his mother so bad, he almost loves it. He hated his mothers love.

This is a sense of passionate jealousy that I have personally felt in past relationships, mostly very toxic ones, and it makes you wonder if this view he has on his mother is really is just a part of growing up or if it is something unhealthy. 

Another part to mention was when Agostino described how when he is alone with his mother, "a strong woman, had no need of assistance in climbing back on the boat... apparently indulging in a feminine clumsiness...", "the mother, a large and dignified woman... and her dignity, a boring habit that she now needed to replace with some awkward playfulness". I thought these quotes displayed the reality behind a lot of romance, how women can almost make themselves feel small to appeal to the man they are in love with. This isn't true in every romance but I thought it was interesting how the book touched on this, as I never seen be portrayed before. 

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 There is so much to think about after reading Agostino. Although I'm confused, not confused in the way where I don't understand the story, because I definitely understand why this story was written, but confused in the way where I have never seen a book take on growing up, sexuality, etc.. the way this one did, and it leaves me with many thoughts. 

I may have said The Shrouded Woman was my favourite so far, but this one now takes the lead. Out of all of the novels I have read so far this one felt the most modern in a way, in terms of writing style and overall content which made it very easy to understand and almost felt like something I picked up myself and started reading, not something for an assignment. 

After the first few pages of this novel I could already catch on to what the themes of the story were. There are a couple things that I don't know necessarily if they have the correct take on, but I'm not one to say they aren't correct either. We've seen these concepts in Psychology courses, specifically the Freudian Oedipus Complex. 

This coming of age novel takes ideas from inside of a young boys mind and sees how growing up and going through puberty may really feel. There is such an interesting relationship described with his mother. It is mother son love presented in a way that almost sexualizes it, which left me very confused but also curious to read on and see how Agostinos mind is perceiving this love for his mother. Although I can't say that this is really how things are growing up, I think the book did a really good job at thoroughly explaining these sexual and jealous feelings that Agostino was feeling to help readers understand

There was one part where Agostino mentions this "hatred" for his mother that leaves his cheeks burning is what he lives for. Like he waits for this burning jealousy to be lit in him everyday, and as much as he despises it and wants to hate his mother so bad, he almost loves it. He hated his mothers love.

This is a sense of passionate jealousy that I have personally felt in past relationships, mostly very toxic ones, and it makes you wonder if this view he has on his mother is really is just a part of growing up or if it is something unhealthy. 

Another part to mention was when Agostino described how when he is alone with his mother, "a strong woman, had no need of assistance in climbing back on the boat... apparently indulging in a feminine clumsiness...", "the mother, a large and dignified woman... and her dignity, a boring habit that she now needed to replace with some awkward playfulness". I thought these quotes displayed the reality behind a lot of romance, how women can almost make themselves feel small to appeal to the man they are in love with. This isn't true in every romance but I thought it was interesting how the book touched on this, as I never seen be portrayed before. 

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I decided to go with this book to challenge myself and I’m glad I did. I really enjoyed reading this week’s read of Laforet’s Nada. I was really intrigued by the title because I vaguely remembered that  “nada” means nothing in Spanish. Then I read the transcript confirming my thoughts stating, “[a]fter all, a narrative …

Continue reading "Carmen Laforet’s Nada"

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The first thing I want to recognize is something I said in a discussion group during my class last week. It was along the lines of whether these texts (that I’ve chosen) will all follow the theme of memories, past experience, or just past tense writing in general. This is the fourth book to do […] read full post >>

The novel “Agostino” by the Italian novelist Alberto Moravia in 1943 describes the transition of the 13 year old boy Agostino from adolescence to adulthood. The book focuses on Agostino’s adolescent struggle on two aspects: sexuality and class division. When reading the book, I find the ambiguous relationship between Agostino and his mother is particularly […] read full post >>

For this week’s reading I chose to read Nada by Carmen Laforet. This post war aroma is consistent throughout Andrea and her surroundings. While in the midst of longing to study in Barcelona, she has to simultaneously navigate her new family dynamic dealing with post-war hauntings.     The contrast of Andrea’s past and current state […] read full post >>

Pretty much every moment of Agostino made me very uneasy. The (possibly) Freudian undertones of Agostino’s feelings towards his mother were definitely somewhat disquieting to me; and the mother’s lack of focus on her son’s wellbeing may have been even more so. However, I think the part that stood out to me most was the […] read full post >>

Nada by Carmen Laforet is a thrilling, chaotic, and apocalyptic read. Andrea, an 18 year old young woman, guides us through her adventure to live with her terror-filled family in Barcelona while she attends university. The book begins with her first interactions and impressions of her deranged family members on Calle de Aribau, who all seem …

Continue reading "Blog Post 4- Nada"

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To say that Carmen Laforet’s “Nada” is both incredibly gripping and deeply unsettling would be an understatement and in my opinion is an excellent study in reciprocal trauma, the weight of a toxic environment on one’s psyche, and the ways in which one’s environment can contort them in many ways. The backdrop of the Spanish […] read full post >>

Moravia’s short coming-of-age novel Agostino was a very interesting yet slightly bizarre read. I had previously read another one of Moravia’s novels, Gli Indifferenti, in high school. Although I read Gli Indifferenti in Italian, I found many similarities between the two … Continue reading → read full post >>

I think that Nada has been my favourite book of the term so far, providing an fascinating look into postwar trauma, mental health, and class inequality set in unsettling, broken Barcelona. There are quiet acknowledgements of the war’s atrocities, like the old houses turned to rubble that are merely the subject of Gerardo’s comments, that […] read full post >>

Overall this was not a favorite of mine compared to what we have read so far. Agostino is a story of adolescence and growth centered in early 20th century Italy (I think not entirely sure if the location is specifically … Continue reading → read full post >>

 Moravia's Agostino was definitely a unique read. The novella managed to pack a rich amount of detail and plot into a hundred pages, and I ever once felt that the writing was rushed. Honestly, it was quite difficult to read some portions of the book, especially when the narrator was discussing Agostino's newfound perspective of viewing his mother. According to the lecture, Moravia's work draws largely from realism. I found this evident in his descriptions of the town and the stereotypes associated with the social classes but was unsure how it applied to Agostino's view of his mother.

The transformation of Agostino's relationship with his mother throughout the book was jarring. It was unsettling to read how he, a thirteen-year-old boy, viewed his mother. It was quite similar to how a grown man would view his lover as his property, as an object that would invoke envy in other men. The depiction of women throughout the book is quite sketchy, and I am not sure how intentional that is. Throughout the book, women mainly serve as objects of desire and do not have any other layers to their identity as the boys do. This influences Agostino's view of his mother and her womanhood. His descriptions of his mother and her wardrobe and body felt highly intrusive and inappropriate, definitely alluding to the Freudian Oedipal complex theory. 

Moreover, we can see how this discomfort (initiated by the boys he meets) fuels his desire to break away from his mother to create his distinct identity from her. He is desperate to hide his naivety from the street-smart boys, but his pampered upbringing doesn't allow him to do so. He allowed them to take advantage of him just so that he could be included. When this starts happening, Moravia points out how "he found that he had lost his original identity without acquiring through his loss another." I found this quote to be quite poignant because of how it relates to the experiences of adolescents in their teen years. 

Overall, I found Agostino's character to be intriguing but unsettling. The realism in the book is definitely one of its winning points, as the descriptions did seem very realistic. The visual imagery made the settings easy to imagine. My question to the class would be: Do you think that the Oedipal complex factor added to the realism Moravia wanted to portray in the book? 

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