Essays, Dialogues, and Thoughts

by Giacomo Leopardi, James Thomson (Translator ), Bertram Dobel (Editor )

Reprint of the 1905 ed. published by G. Routledge, London, in series: The New universal library.

Genres: Philosophy, Fiction, Italian Literature

389 pages, Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 1978

About the author

Italian scholar, poet, essayist and philosopher, one of the great writers of the 19th century.
Leopardi's love problems inspired some of his saddest lyrics. Despite having lived in a small town, Leopardi was in touch with the main ideas of the Enlightenment movement. His literary evolution turned him into one of the well known Romantic poets.
In his late years, when he lived in an ambiguous relationship with his friend Antonio Ranieri on the slopes of Vesuvius, Leopardi meditated upon the possibility of the total destruction of humankind.
Leopardi was a contemporary of the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, with whom he shared a similarly pessimistic view of life. The latter praised Leopardi's philosophical thoughts on The World as Will and Representation.

Reviews

[Roberta di Fiore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quanto gli voglio bene, al caro Giacomino! E cosa dire sull'opera con cui avrebbe voluto realizzare un progetto civile, per quello che ancora non era il popolo italiano? Cosa dire, sul fatto che nel secolo XIX fu osannato il celebre libro manzoniano e le sue Operette morali furono messe addirittura all'indice perchè "violente" e "immorali"? "e gli uomini vollero piuttosto le tenebre che la luce"...ecco cosa.

[qamara · Rating 5 out of 5]

gosh.... leopardi is criticized as being too pessimistic but i think he was so real for that. the moral of most of his dialogues is that life is just suffering. but he doesn't say it in a nihilistic way; i think if he was both pessimistic and nihilistic i would understand the critics and it just wouldn't be enjoyable to read but he was pessimistic in a way that was just..... melancholic? thoughtful? it didn't feel like he was giving up on life at all, he was just trying to come to terms with all human flaws by talking it out and creating these gorgeous magical dialogues. life is bad but its beautiful. even when he criticizes the inherent heirarchy of the world that seems to punish humans just for existing, he also humbles us by making sure we remember this world wasn't built for us. (but he also refutes that in dialogue between nature and icelander... which i love because he contradicts himself and is able to argue with himself and i love that) he even mentions that once a man experiences solitude and trains his mind to idleness and is able to entertain himself in his head, he can never feel at home with other people. i love you leopardi

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars is generous. This is one of those philosophical collections where I glide over 80% of the content, but the 20% that does stand out to me is quite clever or incisive. Leopardi's pessimism is sometimes overdone but there are plenty of times when he is right on target. A few of the moral fables are truly noteworthy for their charm or humor or brutal candor. But a greater number of them were just kind of dull. (Ditto for the "Thoughts" section at the end.)

[Michael Baranowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Artfully constructed pessimism in the form of a number of short fables. Leopardi believed that it's better to not have been born because life is suffering. A reasonable claim that grows somewhat repetitive in these collected stories, so it's probably not the sort of thing you'd want to read in one or two sittings.