Gli indifferenti
| Author | Alberto Moravia |
|---|---|
| Country | Italy |
| Language | Italian |
Publication date | 1929 |
Published in English | 1935 (as The Indifferent Ones) |
Gli Indifferenti (Times of Indifference) is a novel by Alberto Moravia, published in 1929.
Background
After a meeting with friends at which it was agreed that each should produce a novel, the young Moravia began writing the story that would become Gli Indifferenti. Moravia sent the manuscript to the editor of 900, a bilingual (Italian-French) review with which he had previously published some short stories. It was dismissed as a "mist of words". The novel was published with a ₤5,000 contribution from Moravia's father, Carlo Pincherle, as the Milanese publisher Alpes was unwilling to take a risk on an unknown author.
Plot synopsis
Gli Indifferenti is a psychological portrayal of the life of a middle-class mother and her two children. The action of the novel takes place largely over two days. Leo, the wealthy lover of Mariagrazia, a middle-class widow, begins an affair with her daughter, Carla. Carla decides that she will sleep with Leo the following day (her twentieth birthday) in order "to begin a new life".
Reception
The first edition sold out within a number of weeks. An English translation of the novel was published in United States in 1935 under the title The Indifferent Ones.
Film versions
- Time of Indifference (Gli indifferenti) (1964)
- A Time of Indifference (Gli indifferenti) (1987; television miniseries), directed by Mauro Bolognini