How did Elsa Morante combine fact and allegory in History?

In her novel History: A Novel, Elsa Morante blends historical reality with a profound, often bleak, allegorical vision. Set in Rome between 1941 and 1947, the narrative grounds itself in the factual, arduous experiences of a half-Jewish elementary school teacher and her son, Useppe, who is born following a rape by a German soldier.1

Morante uses these characters to move beyond mere historical documentation, employing them as symbols within a broader ideological framework. The novel reflects her anarchist-tinged philosophy, which rejects the possibility of humane politics and views history as a cycle of suffering for the innocent. By centering the story on the vulnerability of the mother and child, Morante creates an allegory for the victimization of the powerless by institutional forces. The eventual death of Useppe serves as a final, tragic assertion of this worldview, suggesting a lack of hope for humanity and reinforcing the novel's status as a critique of the "History" that crushes individual lives.1