Trigger Warnings: Mentions of incestuous behaviours, toxic masculinity, and pedophilia. Cover Painting: Tavik F. Simon “Sunny Beach” 1934 “He felt as if he had bartered away his former innocence, not for the virile, serene condition he had aspired to, but rather, for a confused hybrid state in which, without any form of recompense, the old […]
“This is why he must not betray the annoyance and disappointment that he was feeling. But try as he may to feign an air of composure and serenity, he still felt the everyone could read in his face how forced and petty his attitude was” (7) A story can be powerful despite the length. Where […]
The most glaring theme from this reading that I think most of us will have noticed is the theme of sexuality and loss of innocence. We understand that at the beginning Agostino loves his mother very much. Some of you may argue that he loves her sexually at first but I don’t think this is […]
Hi Everyone! This week I chose to read Agostino by Moravia. I think this was an interesting read, but it made me uncomfortable at times. It includes a lot of discussions about growing up, trauma and class. In the beginning of the novel, Agostino is a high class child living with his mother, and […]
Moravia’s “Agostino” made me so uncomfortable. I found the very sensual and detailed descriptions of Agostino observing his mother and her physicality to be quite disturbing. However, despite these unpleasant feelings, I appreciated the simple structure of the book and how easy it was to read and understand. Compared to the previous books we have […]
If you read my last blog post you may remember that I found The Shrouded Women quite anxiety inducing, for this weeks story I read Agostino by Alberto Moravia but if I thought last weeks story was “bad” (in the sense of feeling, not content, I quite enjoyed The Shrouded Women!) then this weeks story […]
Of all the novels that we have read in the past few weeks, Agostino is one that really resonated with me. As I read the novel, it was like a mirror to the overwhelmed adolescent me. Although the novel is relatively short, the storyline, especially the complexity of the main character’s inner workings, is well […]
One theme that I found interesting in the novel was the theme of transition. Agostino is often caught between childhood and adulthood and expresses the want to enter the next stage of his life by doing more “adult” things. I think the moment when he isn’t allowed into the home at the end of the […]
Alberto Moravia, Agostino
