Modernist Idealism: Ambivalent Legacies of German Philosophy in Italian Literature
© 2022
Offering a new approach to the intersection of literature and philosophy, Modernist Idealism contends that certain models of idealist thought require artistic form for their full development and that modernism realizes philosophical idealism in aesthetic form. This comparative view of modernism employs tools from intellectual history, literary analysis, and philosophical critique, focusing on the Italian reception of German idealist thought from the mid-1800s to the Second World War.
Modernist Idealism intervenes into ongoing debates about the nineteenth- and twentieth-century resurgence of materialism and spiritualism, as well as the relation of decadent, avant-garde, and modernist production. The author aims to open new discursive space for the philosophical study of modernist literary and visual culture, considering not only philosophical and literary texts but also early cinema. Michael J. Subialka’s main contention is that, in various media and with sometimes radically different political and cultural aims, a host of modernist artists and thinkers can be seen as sharing in a project to realize idealist philosophical worldviews in aesthetic form.
Product Details
- Series: Toronto Italian Studies
- World Rights
- Page Count: 368 pages
- Dimensions: 6.0in x 1.0in x 9.0in
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Author Information
Michael J. Subialka is an assistant professor of Comparative Literature and Italian at the University of California, Davis. -
Table of contents
Introduction
Modernist Idealism Revitalizing Italy
D'Annunzio and Shimoi, Italy and Japan: A Case of Modernist Idealism
Modernism, Idealism, and Modernist Idealism
The Artistic Fruition of Idealism: Vitalism, Spiritualism, and the New Materialism
Italian Modernity and Modernist Idealism: A Transnational ParadigmChapter One
Italy at the Banquet of Nations: Hegel in Politics and Philosophy
Philosophy, Nationality, and a New Italy: Hegel Comes to Naples
Hegelian Idealism as a Response to Modern Crisis: History, Nationality, and the State
Modernity and Spiritual Renewal: Italian Modernism and Hegelian IdealismChapter Two
Italy’s Modernist Idealism and the Artistic Reception of Schopenhauer
Alternative Ideals: From Hegel to Schopenhauer
Schopenhauer in Italy: De Sanctis and His Philosophical and Cultural Reception
The Other Side of Modernist IdealismChapter Three
Aesthetic Decadence and Modernist Idealism: Schopenhauer’s Literary-Artistic Legacy
Aestheticism and the Decadent Imagination: Art as an Alternative to Modern Deadness
A Sublime Death: Suicide and Decadent Aestheticism
Ambivalent Idealism: Ascetic Aestheticism and Modernist RenewalChapter Four
Avant-Garde Idealism: The Ambivalence of Futurist Vitalism
Futurist Lebensphilosophie: Practical and Mystical Revitalization
Modernist Mysticism: A Dangerous Ideal(ism)
Futurist Ambivalence and Modernist Idealism: The Case of Bruno CorraChapter Five
Occult Spiritualism and Modernist Idealism: Reanimating the Dead World
Occult Irrationality and Material Positivism: Spirits at the Juncture in Deledda, Capuana, and Pirandello
Spiritual Creation and Modernist Idealism
Modernist Idealism and the Long DuréeChapter Six
Cinematic Idealism: Modernist Visions of Spiritual Vitality Mediated by the Machine
Cinematic Idealism: Existential Thought Experiments and the Vision of Photogénie
Seeing Vital Rhythm: An Irrational Ideal in the Cinema of Futurism and Pirandello
Cinematic Idealism Re-purposing Mechanization: A Surreal CodaAppendix
Schopenhauer and Leopardi: A Dialogue between A and D by Francesco De Sanctis
Notes
Works Cited
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Subjects and Courses