Dimensions
135 x 202 x 17mm
Born in Rome the year the Titanic set sail‚ into an eccentric and colorful family of modest means‚ Elsa Morante grew up with an unconventional spirit‚ a formidable will‚ and the persistent urge to put pen to paper. Half Jewish‚ she fled Rome with her husband‚ the celebrated writer Alberto Moravia‚ during the Nazi occupation and lived in a remote hill village in southern Italy. After the war‚ she published a series of prize-winning novels-HOUSE OF LIARS (1946)‚ the lyrical and luminous ARTURO'S ISLAND (1957)‚ and the world-famous HISTORY (1974)-which firmly established her place in the Italian literary pantheon.
Lily Tuck's elegant and unusual book evokes the exciting‚ sophisticated city of Rome and the artistic circles in which Morante lived and loved. Her intimates included filmmakers like Pier Paolo Pasolini‚ Luchino Visconti‚ and the young Bernardo Bertolucci‚ as well as writers like Carlo Levi (CHRIST STOPPED AT EBOLI). As a couple‚ Morante and Moravia-the Sartre/Beauvoir of Italy-captivated the nation with their intense mutual admiration‚ their competitiveness‚ and the passion of their terrible arguments.
Brilliantly researched‚ filled with personal interviews‚ and written with the cooperation of the Morante Estate‚ WOMAN OF ROME is a captivating‚ courageous biography that brings back to life a woman of fierce instincts‚ powerful imagination‚ generosity‚ and genius. Lily Tuck writes with characteristically graceful prose and compellingly introduces us to the writer who made her want to write.
