Elsa Morante (1912-85) is the author of numerous works, among them Il gioco segreto (1941), Le bellissime avventure di Caterí dalla trecciolina (1942), Menzogna e sortilegio (1948), L'isola di Arturo (1957), Lo scialle andaluso (1963), La Storia (1974), Ara Coeli (1982), and the collections of poems Alibi (1958) and Il mondo salvat (1968). Her prose style, which is indebted to surrealism and magic realism, is characterized by the clear presentation of unreal events and always stresses the power of the imagination. Her most important work, La storia (1974), recounts Italy's wartime history through the eyes of a poor Roman family living in the ghetto, portraying history's violent and pitiless effects on the lives of common people.
