Ercole Luigi Morselli (Pesaro, 19 February 1882 –Rome, 16 March 1921) was an Italian writer and dramatist.
In Florence, where his family moved in 1891 following his father, a state counsel who died there in 1895, Morselli attempted to study medicine and literature, but in both cases he did not succeed and had to interrupt his studies. In the following years he had a very turbulent life, with many journeys first in Africa and Latin America, then also in England and France. Morselli was a friend ofGiovanni Papini andGiuseppe Prezzolini. After his return to Italy, Morselli started his literary career, which was initially quite difficult, such that his mother had to support him for long time. In 1910 histragicomedyOrione obtained a great success, but Morselli did not reach economic stability until 1919, with the success ofGlauco, a drama given in Rome. Morselli was alsofilm director andscreenplayer. He died of tuberculosis in a Roman hospital in 1921.
The works of Morselli are based on the classical myths, revisited from a modern viewpoint. His most successful works areOrione, a tragicomedy where the main character is a demigod with very unspiritual desires, andGlauco, which describes the story of a fisher who becomes god of the sea but discovers that power does not necessarily bring joy. Morselli, portraying antiheroes, represented an alternative to the spirit ofD'Annunzio. With hisshort storyLa donna ragno (The spider woman, 1915), Morselli was in addition one of the precursors of thescience fiction in Italy. His playBelfagor was used byClaudio Guastalla as subject for the libretto of theopera with the same title (1926) ofOttorino Respighi.
