Giacomo Leopardi’s Search For a Common Life Through Poetry

A Different Nobility, A Different Love

Frank Rosengarten

This book traces the life of Giacomo Leopardi by examining four different yet interrelated aspects: his social origins and class in relation to his evolving conception of nobility; the mixture of idealism and misogynism in his attitude toward women and in his conception of love; his poems and prose on the theme of Italian independence; and his philosophical materialism as expressed in his poetry, intellectual diary, and essays. Frank Rosengarten pays particular attention to the ways in which the thought of Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche illuminates Leopardi’s world view. He also devotes a section of the book to the different personal, moral, and philological components of Leopardi’s humanism. Throughout, he maintains a sharp focus on the connections between Leopardi’s life and the historical period in which he lived. The major themes and human concerns expressed in Leopardi’s writings relate to his life experiences and to the historical period in which he lived. Of central interest are nobility and love, since Leopardi’s perception of these two themes evolved and changed as he acquired a more general and universal conception of life. This fascinating combination of classical and modern perspectives on life and literature is highlighted throughout the book.

University Press Copublishing Division / Fairleigh Dickinson University Press

Pages: 284 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9¼

978-1-61147-505-0 • Hardback • February 2012 • $114.00 • (£88.00)

Series: The Fairleigh Dickinson University Press Series in Italian Studies

Subjects: Literary Criticism / European / General, Literary Criticism / European / Italian, Literary Criticism / Poetry, Philosophy / Social

Giacomo Leopardi’s Search For a Common Life Through Poetry

A Different Nobility, A Different Love

Hardback

Summary

This book traces the life of Giacomo Leopardi by examining four different yet interrelated aspects: his social origins and class in relation to his evolving conception of nobility; the mixture of idealism and misogynism in his attitude toward women and in his conception of love; his poems and prose on the theme of Italian independence; and his philosophical materialism as expressed in his poetry, intellectual diary, and essays. Frank Rosengarten pays particular attention to the ways in which the thought of Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche illuminates Leopardi’s world view. He also devotes a section of the book to the different personal, moral, and philological components of Leopardi’s humanism. Throughout, he maintains a sharp focus on the connections between Leopardi’s life and the historical period in which he lived. The major themes and human concerns expressed in Leopardi’s writings relate to his life experiences and to the historical period in which he lived. Of central interest are nobility and love, since Leopardi’s perception of these two themes evolved and changed as he acquired a more general and universal conception of life. This fascinating combination of classical and modern perspectives on life and literature is highlighted throughout the book.

Details

University Press Copublishing Division / Fairleigh Dickinson University Press

Pages: 284 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9¼

978-1-61147-505-0 • Hardback • February 2012 • $114.00 • (£88.00)

Series: The Fairleigh Dickinson University Press Series in Italian Studies

Subjects: Literary Criticism / European / General, Literary Criticism / European / Italian, Literary Criticism / Poetry, Philosophy / Social

Author

Frank Rosengarten is a professor of Italian studies and the author of numerous publications. His most recent books are The Writings of the Young Marcel Proust, 1885–1900 (2001) and Urbane Revolutionary: C. L. R. James and the Struggle for a New Society (2008).

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Note on Sources and Translations
Introduction
Part One Nobility: A Family Legacy and a Lingering Ideal
Chapter One Family Connections
Chapter Two Poetry and the Heroic
Chapter Three A Different Nobility
Part Two Leopardi in Love
Chapter Four The Languages of Love and Misogyny
Chapter Five A Loving Partnership and Consalvo
Chapter Six A Different Love
Part Three Leopardi as a Poet of the Risorgimento
Chapter Seven The Poetry and Rhetoric of Liberal Patriotism
Chapter Eight Monaldo and Giacomo Leopardi: a Comparison
Chapter Nine Unpleasant, Rancorous Leopardi
Chapter Ten Leopardi in a Twentieth-Century Political Context
Part Four Leopardi as Poet-Philosopher
Chapter Eleven Nihilism, Death, and the Human Condition
Chapter Twelve Nietzsche, Lucretius, and Leopardi
Chapter Thirteen Leopardi Between Supernaturalism and Materialism
Chapter Fourteen How Schopenhauer Illuminates Leopardi
Part Five Humanism in Life and Letters
Chapter Fifteen Friendship and Classical Studies
Chapter Sixteen Women in Leopardi’s Intellectual and Sentimental
Life
Chapter Seventeen Humanism and Society

Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author