10 Facts About Elsa Morante

Elsa Morante was born in Rome in 1912, the daughter of Irma, a schoolteacher, and Augusto Morante.

Elsa Morante's mother came from a Jewish family in Modena.

When she was a teenager Morante discovered that Francesco Lo Monaco, a family neighbour, was her biological father.

Elsa Morante decided to briefly return to war-torn Rome at great personal risk to retrieve the manuscript of what would be her first published Menzogna e sortilegio and get winter clothes.

Elsa Morante destroyed much of the work written during that period, although she did publish a novel, The Andalusian Shawl, and a poem, The Adventure.

In 1974 Elsa Morante published La storia, a book chronicling the events surrounding Rome during World War II.

Elsa Morante was interested in Freudian psychology, Plato and Simone Weil.

One of the central themes in Elsa Morante's work is Narcissism.

The majority of Elsa Morante's leading characters use autobiography as a way to seek self-therapy and hope.

Elsa Morante's writing is essential for the formation of a positive consciousness about her personal memories.