Overview

This book focuses on the notion of desire in late-nineteenth-century Italy, and how this notion shapes the life and works of two of Italy’s most prominent authors at that time, Giovanni Pascoli and Gabriele D’Annunzio. In the fin de siècle, the philosophical speculation on desire, inspired by Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche intersected the popularization of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. Within this context, desire is conceptualized as an obscure force and remnant of mankind’s animalistic origins. Both Pascoli and D’Annunzio put into play the drama of desire as a force splitting the unity of the characters in their works, and variously attempt to provide solutions to this haunting force within the human self.

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9781611479133

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Reviews

Although its title specifically refers to Pascoli and d'Annunzio, this book offers a wide examination of the whole late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Italian cultural milieu, which is looked at through a specific philosophical lens. . . . This is a very interesting book not only for scholars of d'Annunzio and Pascoli, but for anyone interested in fin-de-siecle Italian culture and in the ways in which philosophical debates impact on artists' aesthetics.--Modern Language Review

Although its title specifically refers to Pascoli and d'Annunzio, this book offers a wide examination of the whole late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Italian cultural milieu, which is looked at through a specific philosophical lens. . . . This is a very interesting book not only for scholars of d'Annunzio and Pascoli, but for anyone interested in fin-de-siecle Italian culture and in the ways in which philosophical debates impact on artists' aesthetics.-- Modern Language Review

Author Information

Elena Borelli is assistant professor of Italian at the City University of New York.

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