Giacomo Leopardi's search for a common life through poetry : a different nobility, a different love

286 Pages·2012·1.119 MB·English

by  Leopardi, Giacomo, Rosengarten, Frank, Leopardi, Giacomo

Giacomo Leopardi’s Search for
a Common Life through Poetry
The Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
Series in Italian Studies
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OntheWebathttp://www.fdu.edu/fdupress
Giacomo Leopardi’s Search for
a Common Life through Poetry
A Different Nobility, a Different Love
Frank Rosengarten
FAIRLEIGHDICKINSONUNIVERSITYPRESS
Madison•Teaneck
PublishedbyFairleighDickinsonUniversityPress
Co-publishedwithTheRowman&LittlefieldPublishingGroup,Inc.
4501ForbesBoulevard,Suite200,Lanham,Maryland20706
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10ThornburyRoad,PlymouthPL67PP,UnitedKingdom
Copyright©2012byFrankRosengarten
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyformorbyany
electronicormechanicalmeans,includinginformationstorageandretrievalsystems,
withoutwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher,exceptbyareviewerwhomayquote
passagesinareview.
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationInformationAvailable
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Rosengarten,Frank,1927–
GiacomoLeopardi’ssearchforacommonlifethroughpoetry:adifferentnobility,adifferentlove/
FrankRosengarten.
p.cm.—(TheFairleighDickinsonUniversityPressseriesinItalianstudies)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-1-61147-505-0(cloth:alk.paper)—ISBN978-1-61147-506-7(ebook)
1.Leopardi,Giacomo,1798–1837.I.Title.
PQ4710.R672012
851’.7—dc23
2011047774
ThepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsofAmerican
NationalStandardforInformationSciencesPermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibrary
Materials,ANSI/NISOZ39.48-1992.
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
SourcesandTranslations ix
Introduction xi
PartOne:Nobility—AFamilyLegacyandaLingeringIdeal 1
1 FamilyConnections 3
2 PoetryandtheHeroic 15
3 ADifferentNobility 33
PartTwo:LeopardiinLove 43
4 TheLanguagesofLoveandMisogyny 45
5 ALovingPartnershipandConsalvo 63
6 ADifferentLove 85
PartThree:LeopardiasaPoetoftheRisorgimento 93
7 ThePoetryandRhetoricofLiberalPatriotism 95
8 MonaldoandGiacomoLeopardi:AComparison 115
9 Unpleasant,RancorousLeopardi 127
10 LeopardiinaTwentieth-CenturyPoliticalContext 139
PartFour:LeopardiasPoet-Philosopher 147
11 Nihilism,Death,andtheHumanCondition 149
12 Nietzsche,Lucretius,andLeopardi 161
v
vi Contents
13 LeopardibetweenSupernaturalismandMaterialism 179
14 HowSchopenhauerIlluminatesLeopardi 191
PartFive:HumanisminLifeandLetters 201
15 FriendshipandClassicalStudies 203
16 WomeninLeopardi’sIntellectualandSentimentalLife 225
17 HumanismandSociety 235
Bibliography 247
Index 255
Acknowledgments
In addition to the writers I mention in my introduction to this book, I am
intellectually indebted to several other scholars on whose painstaking re-
search I depended in the process of developing my own point of view con-
cerningLeopardi’slifeandwork.
Doctor Maria Rascaglia, who administers the Leopardi and the Ranieri
papers at the National Library of Naples, is my main source of insights into
thesetwosetsofdocuments.Herdetaileddescriptionsofthemformedpartof
twoexceptionallyusefulvolumeseditedbyGaetano Macchiaroli containing
historical, biographical, and literary-critical analyses, in addition to photo-
graphs and pictures that have enriched Leopardi studies since their appear-
ancein1987and1998.I’malsogratefultoDoctorRascagliaformakingher
staffavailabletomeforavarietyofindispensableservices.
Two other scholars whose research and perspectives were important to
me are Elisabetta Benucci, masterful editor and interpreter of Leopardi’s
lettersandlesserknownliteraryprojects,andVannaGazzolaStacchini,who
withElioGioanolaisamongthenotmanyscholarswhohaveusedpsychoan-
alyticalmethodsintheirstudies.
In Recanati, Leopardi’s native city and the site of his birthplace, an im-
posing seventeenth-century palazzo, I was cordially received, as have been
otherLeopardischolars,byCountessAnnaLeopardi,whohasdevotedmany
years to making her home accessible to visiting researchers and who has
produced a number of books on the history of the Leopardi family that
combinepersonalmemorieswithdiligentresearch.CountessLeopardirelies
for various important services on Signora Carmela Magri, who patiently
informedmeabouttheLeopardifamilydwellingandthepersonalitiesofthe
vii
viii Acknowledgments
individuals who have played important roles in its history. I appreciated her
availability to me, sometimes on a moment’s notice, due to the relatively
shorttimeIwasabletospendinRecanati.
At the National Center of Leopardi Studies, which adjoins the palazzo, I
was fortunate to receive the assistance of Professor Ermanno Carini, a lead-
ing Leopardi bibliographer and author of important critical writings on the
poet. Several conversations with Professor Carini turned out to be crucial to
myunderstandingofthevariousnewvoicesandcriticalcurrentsinLeopardi
studies thathaveemergedover thepast twentyyearsor so. RobertoTanoni,
who administers the Center’s library and collection of media materials, also
madehimselfavailabletomeinmatterssmallandlarge.
I am grateful to three people who took the trouble to read and critique
chapters of my study. They are my sister Johanna Garfield, and my friends
Dr. Ann Burack-Weiss and Professor Ben Fontana. All three pointed out
concretewaysinwhichtoimprovethequalityofmystudy.
I oweadebtof gratitude to twopeoplewhose friendship andintellectual
rigorhavealwaysbeenaninspirationtome:ProfessorMichaelE.Brownand
the late Annette Rubinstein. Of course, neither bears responsibility for any
errorsanddeficienciesinmywork.