Alberto Moravia's Agostino is clearly a Bildungsroman: the events that happened to the thirteen-year-old ingenuous protagonist during the summer of 1942 mark his entry into adolescence. But some other themes are present in the novel. One of them is related to social class conflict: Agostino, a boy belonging to bourgeoisie, experiences the existence of different social classes. On the beach, Agostino comes into contact with a group of boys, the sons of fishermen and commoners, who are constantly sought after by him. As stated in the book, these boys exert a mysterious attraction over him, so it's not just about discovering the behaviors of their peers from lower social class, it's also a confusing (because he also feels repulsion) feeling of irresistible attraction towards them. Some examples from the book are the following:
quella compagnia brutale e umiliante tornava ad esercitare nel suo animo un’oscura attrattiva
translated by Michael F. Moore as
the brutal and humiliating company of the boys reasserted its dark appeal
and also
Soltanto, come il solito, la sua ripugnanza non era più forte della torbida attrattiva che lo legava alla banda; e mescolata con essa indissolubilmente, non gli permetteva di capire quanto piacere si nascondesse in realtà in fondo a quel ribrezzo
that in the above mentioned translation becomes
Except, as usual, Agostino's repulsion was weaker than the murky attraction that drew him to the gang. So thoroughly intermingled were the two that he couldn't tell how much pleasure was actually concealed by his loathing.
As the book states, once Agostino starts hanging out with these boys, he becomes intolerant of his old friendships. He finds the boys from his social class whom he had played with at the beach 'colorless,' their games boring, and their conversations about school, stamp collections, adventure books, and similar things insipid:
gli accadde di non recarsi allo stabilimento Vespucci e di ricercare i semplici compagni e i giuochi innocenti coi quali, al bagno Speranza, aveva iniziato l’estate. Ma come gli apparvero scoloriti i ragazzi bene educati che qui lo aspettavano, come noiosi i loro svaghi regolati dagli ammonimenti dei genitori e dalla sorveglianza delle governanti, come insipidi i loro discorsi sulla scuola, le collezioni dei francobolli, i libri di avventure e altre simili cose. In realtà la compagnia della banda, quel parlare sboccato, quel discorrere di donne, quell’andare rubando per i campi, quelle stesse angherie e violenze di cui era vittima, lo avevano trasformato e reso insofferente delle antiche amicizie.
This is translated by Michael F. Moore as follows:
he [...] sought out the simple companions and innocent games of Speranza beach with which his summer had begun. But there was something so bland about the polite children who awaited him there; their amusements ruled by parents' warnings and nannies' supervision were so boring, their talk of school, stamp collections, adventure books, and other such things, so insipid. The truth was that the camaraderie of the gang, their foul language, their talk about women, stealing from the fields, and even their violence and harsh treatment of him had transformed him and made him adverse to the old friendships.
At a certain point, a man mistakes him for one of these boys, and he feels flattered, so he decides not to reveal his identity. At that moment, he feels like he no longer belongs to the social circle of boys from his own social class:
Ed ecco, mentre guardava alla spiaggia con desiderio di vederci almeno apparire il Saro, avvicinarsi un uomo e un ragazzo di forse due anni più giovane di lui. L’uomo, piccolo, le gambe corte e grasse sotto la pancia sporgente, il viso rotondo in cui un paio di lenti a molla stringevano un naso appuntito, pareva un impiegato o un professore. Il bambino magro e pallido, in un costume troppo ampio, stringeva contro il petto un enorme pallone di cuoio, tutto nuovo. Tenendo per mano il figlio, l’uomo si avvicinò ad Agostino e lo guardò a lungo indeciso. [...] Ora capiva che l’uomo lo scambiava per un garzone o figlio di bagnino; e ciò, in qualche modo, lo lusingava. [...] Questo piccolo incidente diede ad Agostino il sentimento definitivo di non appartenere più al mondo in cui si trovavano ragazzi del genere di quello del pallone; [...].
In Moore's translation, this becomes:
While he was staring at the beach, hoping that at least Saro would appear, he was approached by a man and a boy who was perhaps two years younger than Agostino. The man was short with fat stubby legs beneath a protruding belly and a round face with a pince-nez clamped to a pointed nose. He looked like an office worker or a teacher. The pale skinny boy, wearing bathing trunks a couple of sizes too large, was hugging to his chest an enormous brand-new leather soccer ball. Holding his son by the arm the man came up to Agostino and looked at him for a while, undecided. [...] Then he realized the man had mistaken him for the boatman's son or helper, which somehow flattered him. [...] This small incident left Agostino with the feeling once and for all that he no longer belonged to the world of children like the boy with the soccer ball, [...].
I wonder if this particular aspect was pointed out by the critics in the immediate aftermath of the publication, and in what terms it was discussed.
