Agostino by Alberto Moravia

Abstract

Agostino is a short novel which was published in Rome in 1944, after being censored two years before. The story is partly autobiographical: its style is one of simple elegance. There is no superfluous word to detract from the theme of the story, which is the corrosion of innocence that parallels a growing self-awareness. Agostino is a thirteen-year-old boy spending a summer holiday by the sea with his widowed mother. He takes great pride in rowing his mother out to sea, as she is a beautiful woman still in the prime of life; and he feels that everyone admires her and envies him.

The sequence of events that takes place in the short space of time covered by the story serves to destroy his pride and trust in, and affection for, her. He realises that she is a separate human being with needs of her own, instead of a person existing just to grant his wishes.