Roman Tales

Roman Tales
	First edition
Author	Alberto Moravia
Original title	Racconti romani
Language	Italian
Publisher	Bompiani
Publication date	1954
Publication place	Italy
Media type	Print
Pages	2193
ISBN	88-452-3299-9
OCLC	179696254
Dewey Decimal	853/.912 22
LC Class	PQ4829.O62 A6 2000

Roman Tales (Italian: Racconti romani) is a series of sixty-one short stories written by the Italian author, Alberto Moravia. Written and published initially in the Italian newspaper, Il Corriere della Sera, they were published as a collection in 1954 by Bompiani. All of the stories are set in Rome or its surroundings after World War II and focus on 'the common people of Rome' (Roma popolana).^[1] The characters in these stories tend to be the unemployed, ex-convicts, waiters, drivers, con artists, thieves and petty criminals, the average man (or woman) and the lower classes aspiring to climb out of poverty.

All the stories are told in the first person with the narrator often unnamed, although details are usually furnished to provide a clue to the narrator's identity, such as their occupation, motivations and social status. Roman Tales provide a snapshot on life in Rome after World War II, revealing much about the inhabitants of Rome in the early 1950s.

Titles of the short stories

Below is a list of the names of the short stories that comprise the Roman Tales. Their order is the same presented in volume 3, tome 1 of Alberto Moravia's, Opere (ISBN 8845244148), a multi-volume set containing all of Moravia's writings published by Bompiani in 2000:

Fanatico (The Fanatic)
Arrivederci
Pioggia di maggio (Rain in May)
Non approfondire (Don't Delve Too Deeply . . .)
La bella serata
Scherzi del caldo (Hot Weather Jokes)
La controfigura
Il pagliaccio (The Clown)
Il biglietto falso
Il camionista (The Lorry-Driver)
Il pensatore
Scorfani
Il mediatore (The Go-Between)
Il pupo (The Baby)
Il delitto perfetto (The Perfect Crime)
Il picche nicche
La voglia di vino
Prepotente per forza
Sciupone
La giornata nera
I gioielli (Jewellery)
Tabù (Taboo)
Io non dico di no (I Don't say no . . .)
L'inconsciente
Il provino
Il pignolo
La ciociara (The Girl from Ciociaria)
Impataccato
Scherzi di ferragosto
Il terrore di Roma (The Terror of Rome)
L'amicizia (Friendship)
La rovina dell'umanità (The Ruin of Humanity)
Perdipiede
Vecchio stupido (Silly Old Fool)
Caterina
La parola mamma
Gli occhiali (A Pair of Spectacles)
Il cane cinese
Mario (Mario)
Gli amici senza soldi
Bu bu bu
Ladri in chiesa
Precisamente a te
Faccia di mascalzone
Un uomo sfortunato
Tirato a sorte
Pigliati un brodo
La vita in campagna
Le sue giornate
La gita
La rivincita di Tarzan
Romolo e Remo (Romulus and Remus)
Faccia da norcino
L'appetito (Appetite)
L'infermiera (The Nurse)
Il tesoro (The Treasure)
La concorrenza
Bassetto
Il guardiano (The Caretaker)
Il naso (The Nose)
Il godipoco

In translation

A handful of Moravia's Racconti romani were published in an English translation, entitled Roman Tales, in 1957 by Farrar, Straus and Cudahy. Unfortunately, this collection of translated stories is no longer in print but can be found in dozens of libraries worldwide or on the used book market.

In print

Roman Tales is still in print in Italian and are available from Bompiani as part of the mult-volume set, Opere (ISBN 8845244148), published in 2000. The stories themselves were republished in 2001 from Bompiani, entitled Racconti romani (ISBN 8845248976). Both editions are currently in print.

Radio broadcasts

Ten of the Roman Tales were converted into radio broadcasts by RAI television in 1959 (see link below to Romolo e Remo). With the advent of audiobooks, several Italian publishing entities have released audiobooks of these short stories.

Pioggia di Maggio
Romolo e Remo

Film adaptations

Roman Tales has been adapted into film three times. The first, in 1954, in the film Too Bad She's Bad directed by Alessandro Blasetti with Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni, adapting the story, Fanatico. Moravia's stories were used again in 1955 under director Gianni Franciolini starring Totò, Vittorio De Sica, and Giovanna Ralli, entitled Roman Tales. A third film, From a Roman Balcony, filmed in 1960 and directed by Mauro Bolognini, also borrowed from Moravia's stories.^[1]

Criticism and interpretation

Below is a list of invaluable sources about Moravia's Roman Tales—all are in Italian unless otherwise noted:

Camilucci, Marcello. "Roma e i "Racconti romani" di Moravia", Studi romani, 6:5 (1958:sett./ott.) p. 547-561
Lauta, Gianluca. La scrittura di Moravia: lingua e stile dagli Indifferenti ai Racconti romani. Comunicazione e scienze umane, 1. Milano: F. Angeli, 2005.
Moravia, Alberto, and Piero Cudini. Racconti romani. Tascabili Bompiani. Milano: Bompiani, 2005. (especially introduction by Piero Cudini)
Moravia, Alberto, Rocco Capozzi, and Mario B. Mignone. Homage to Moravia. Filibrary Series, no. 5. Stony Brook, NY: Forum Italicum, 1993.

References

^ ^a ^b Rai Radiofonia – Radioscrigno Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine

External links

[Rai_Radiofonia_-_Radioscrigno-1] Rai Radiofonia – Radioscrigno Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine

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