Alberto Moravia in his study with his cat, Famossimo
ALBERTO MORAVIA
The Paris Review 1954, No. 6 (Summer)
© 2004 The Paris Review Foundation, Inc.
INTERVIEWER: You do not consider yourself a moralist, do you?
MORAVIA: No, I most emphatically do not. Truth and beauty are educatory in themselves. . . . Social criticism must necessarily, and always, be an extremely superficial thing. But don’t misunderstand me. Writers, like all artists, are concerned to represent reality, to create a more absolute and complete reality than reality itself. They must, if they are to accomplish this, assume a moral position, a clearly conceived political, social, and philosophical attitude; in consequence, their beliefs are, of course, going to find their way into their work. What artists believe, however, is of secondary importance, ancillary to the work itself. A writer survives in spite of his beliefs. Lawrence will be read whatever one thinks of his notions on sex. Dante is read in the Soviet Union.
The full interview may be downloaded at http://theparisreview.org/media/5093_MORAVIA4.pdfMORAVIA: No, I most emphatically do not. Truth and beauty are educatory in themselves. . . . Social criticism must necessarily, and always, be an extremely superficial thing. But don’t misunderstand me. Writers, like all artists, are concerned to represent reality, to create a more absolute and complete reality than reality itself. They must, if they are to accomplish this, assume a moral position, a clearly conceived political, social, and philosophical attitude; in consequence, their beliefs are, of course, going to find their way into their work. What artists believe, however, is of secondary importance, ancillary to the work itself. A writer survives in spite of his beliefs. Lawrence will be read whatever one thinks of his notions on sex. Dante is read in the Soviet Union.
posted by Peter Humphreys @ Friday, August 29, 2008
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