Description
A man determined to live “normally” builds a life of order—marriage, respectability, and professional control—yet his inner world is haunted by childhood memories and a past that refuses to stay buried. As Marcello Clerici is drawn into morally compromising work for the state, his private desires and anxieties collide with the public demand to conform, turning self-mastery into a fragile performance. Moravia’s sharp, unsentimental style exposes how ideology and sexuality can intertwine, revealing the psychological costs of obedience and the unsettling ways trauma shapes identity. Blending political tension with intimate introspection, the novel asks what it really means to be “normal” when the self is already divided.
Available Editions
paperback
Berkley
Published Jan 1, 1982
318 pages
ISBN: 9780867210699
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Details
First Published
1951
Language
eng
Translation
From: ita
Content Warnings
Content and trigger warnings for The Conformist by Alberto Moravia.