Prezir / Agostino

Contempt (1954) is an existential novel about the breakdown of a marriage and male obsession. The protagonist, Riccardo Molteni, an intellectual and screenwriter, works on films he despises in order to financially support his wife Emilia, a beautiful but uneducated woman from a poor family. The initially idyllic marriage begins to crack: Emilia becomes cold, distant, and eventually despises her husband. Riccardo, obsessed with understanding why, dissects every detail of their relationship – money, his work in the film industry (especially his collaboration with producer Prochazko), sexuality, and communication. He interprets her behavior through the myth of Odysseus and Penelope (working on the screenplay for the adaptation), seeing himself as an intellectual who cannot satisfy her instinctive needs. The climax is on the way to Capri, where the conflict intensifies and the contempt becomes irreversible. Moravia explores here the impossibility of true communication in marriage, erotic and class discord, male narcissism and the destructive need for understanding. The novel is famous for its adaptation by Jean-Luc Godard (Le Mépris, 1963) with Brigitte Bardot and Michel Piccoli.

Agostino (1944, written in 1942, banned under fascism) is a short novel/novella about the transition from childhood to adolescence. Thirteen-year-old Agostino spends the summer on the Italian coast with his beautiful widowed mother. Until then, he is deeply attached to her – he is proud of her beauty, takes her on a boat, enjoys their intimacy. But when his mother starts flirting with young Renata, Agostino feels jealous and confused. He realizes that his mother is not only his mother, but also a sexual being – she attracts men, has her own desires. To avenge or compensate for his loss, Agostino befriends a group of rough, vulgar boys and their older "leader" Sara (a dubious savior). Through them, he experiences his first sexual impulses, violence, humiliation, and maturation. The novel ends with Agostino feeling the loss of his innocence and the impossibility of returning to childhood. Moravia masterfully depicts the psychology of puberty: the Oedipus complex, class differences, sexual awakening, and the painful discovery of parents as independent individuals.

Both works share Moravia's motifs: erotic dynamics, alienation, the impossibility of possessing another, and existential emptiness. "Contempt" is more introspective and marriage-oriented, while "Agostino" focuses on adolescent identity crisis. Together, they demonstrate the breadth of Moravia's exploration of the human psyche and sexuality.