Man as an End

Fülszöveg

Alberto Moravia is probably the bestknown contemporary Italian novelist and short story writer. In Englishspeaking countries his work as a critic and essayist is virtually unknown, and in Man as an End we have a unique opportunity of familiarising ourselves with his great ability in these fields. The essays in this collection extend back over twenty years and several of them are highly regarded in Italy. The dates of the essays are important as the earliest appeared during the Fascist dictatorship in Italy and were considered dangerous at the time. The title essay is a morál and paraphilosophical one. Moravia states that in the modern world man is not an end in himself but is used to achieve the new ideals of our civilisation, such as profit, production and power. Written immediately after the war and published for the first time in this collection this essay is a brilliant defence of the dignity of Man. The other essays cover a wide rangé of literary, social and political topics... Tovább

Fülszöveg

Alberto Moravia is probably the bestknown contemporary Italian novelist and short story writer. In Englishspeaking countries his work as a critic and essayist is virtually unknown, and in Man as an End we have a unique opportunity of familiarising ourselves with his great ability in these fields. The essays in this collection extend back over twenty years and several of them are highly regarded in Italy. The dates of the essays are important as the earliest appeared during the Fascist dictatorship in Italy and were considered dangerous at the time. The title essay is a morál and paraphilosophical one. Moravia states that in the modern world man is not an end in himself but is used to achieve the new ideals of our civilisation, such as profit, production and power. Written immediately after the war and published for the first time in this collection this essay is a brilliant defence of the dignity of Man. The other essays cover a wide rangé of literary, social and political topics which include Hemingway, Verdi, Boccaccio, the art of the növel, the crisis in contemporary painting, eroticism in literature, psychoanalysis, Machiavelli, Communism and Catholic realism. It is unusual for writers of fiction to be as widely read even in their own literature as this collection proves Moravia to be. We may not always agree with what Alberto Moravia says, but in each essay we see the advantage of criticism based on profound insight and practical experience as a writer. Vissza