Agostino (Alberto Moravia, 1942)

This short novel is an unusual coming of age story, that is simultaneously both sensitive and brutal.

The thirteen year old boy Agostino and his mother take a leisurely boat ride every morning in the glistening sun. Agostino loves his mother but is a bit vexed when his widowed mother starts bringing a man along on the boat trips. Agostino manages to stay on the beach one day and his mother and her lover go out on the water without him. This turn of events become critical for the boy’s development, as he befriends a band of poor boys on the beach, and is introduced to their world of delinquency and abandon. His perspective on life is forever changed, and he sheds his naive and sensitive ideas.

This short book is a fine rendering of the period between childhood and adolescence where everything changes. It reminded me of “Lord of the Flies” with its portrayal of boys fighting for dominance and recognition in a group. It also deals with budding sexuality, and touches upon a similar theme as that in Louis Malle’s 1971 film “le Feu follet”. I liked the writing style, and will possibly seek out more of Moravia’s writing.

It has been pointed out that this book might have influenced Camus to write l’Etranger. Moravia was co-founder of the literary review Nuovi Argumenti in 1953, and was chair of PEN International 1959-62. He was for a time married to writer Elsa Morante. As a boy, he was bedridden because of tuberculosis (a similar fate to those of Proust and Sven Stople). This book was made into a movie in 1962, with actress Ingrid Thulin as Agostino’s mother.