The Conformist

The Conformist is a psychologically complex novelistic study of an Italian fascist, although not necessarily a typical fascist, done in an existential style with intense interior monologues and introspection by Alberto Moravia's protagonist, Marcello Clerici. No doubt Moravia intended Marcello as the conformist, but ironically it is his wife Giulia who nearly always conforms to what is considered normal behavior and who harbors uncritically knee jerk beliefs and opinions formed by church and state. In fact, that is part of the reason he married her. In contrast, Marcello struggles mightily with what he considers his abnormal tendencies. As a child he killed lizards for sport as any boy might, but felt uneasy about the wanton slaughter, and so sought from a friend and his mother some indication that killing lizards was okay. Later he kills a cat, although this is mostly accidental, and as a young teenager shots a homosexual limo driver named Lino. He feels something akin to consternation for these actions, not guilt exactly, but an unease since doing such things is not what he thinks normal people do. It is his need to be--or at least to appear--"normal" that drives Marcello to conform to society's mores and persuades him to embrace fascism. He only feels really at ease when he sees himself as part of the common herd, on the installment plan, buying ordinary furniture, living in an apartment like a thousand others, having a wife and children, reading the newspapers, going to work, etc. He is not a peasant of course, but an educated functionary in the Italian Secret Service, a man with impeccable manners who seldom says more than is absolutely necessary. The idea that fascists in general follow the herd and adopt a superficial and uncultured world view is no doubt largely correct, but the essence of fascism is the belief in authoritarian rule, the stratification of society, intolerance of diversity, and a willingness, even an eagerness to use force and violence to obtain such ends. The psychology underlying Moravia's portrait is the idea that Marcello sees in himself the violent and selfish tendencies and so it is only natural that he should adopt a political philosophy that condones and acts out such tendencies. Moravia treats fascism in the person of Marcello more kindly than I believe he imagined he would when he began the novel, given Moravia's hatred of the fascist movement that seduced much of Europe following the First World War. But this is the necessary consequence of being an objective novelist. In drawing a living, breathing portrait of Marcello, Moravia allows us to see him as a complex person with strengths and weaknesses who deals with the trials of life sometimes in a despicable way, and sometimes, indeed often, in a way that most of us would choose were we in his shoes. Therefore it is impossible not to identify with him to some degree. It is an artifact of Moravia's artistry that we do in fact in the end identify

I tried watching the movie AFTER the book and I had NO patience with the movie, though directed by a person for whom I have great respect. Moravia is a lyricist and this prose poem of a novel describes some very hard facts of boyhood during fascist times in Italy, and more. The boy becomes a man, a conformist, due to an incredible mistake. And a mistaken mistake at that! Add to this an almost abusive father, who is institutionalized later in the novel, his lovely decadent drug addict mother with her 15 small dogs, and her chauffer, of course. A most harrowing, yet not disbeleivable, ending winds up the novel in just two pages. More from Moravia! Get this book back in print! For the scenes in the Paris clubs, it is alone worth reading this fascinating book. I read it two years ago and it has stayed with me, unlike many of my other favotite novels. This book is incomparable; it is not for the conformists, nor is it for the faint of heart!

What a page turner! It was truly one of those books that you don't want to put down. Truly a gripping story, even up to the last paragraph! I'll definitely be reading more Moravia works.

This is an excellent entry piece into Italian fiction (in translation), especially for those seeking works set during World War II and the rise of fascism in Italy. Ranks with the best of international 20th century literature.

At long last, Moravia is once again available in translation. Apart from his first work GLI INDIFFERENTI, IL CONFORMISTA is probably the author's most successful novel. Well, the most infamous anyway. The setting is fascist Italy just prior to the Second World War and the plot is loosely based on the assassinations of two of Moravia's cousins who were political activists standing up to Il Duce's regime. Moravia takes these events and constructs a masterpiece of postwar Italian fiction, relentless and loaded with insightful ironies. There are some major differences between the novel and Bertolucci's film, which is wonderful in its own right. So don't let that deter you from reading the book.