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Carlo Michelstaedter (1887-1910) committed suicide at the age of
23, days after completing this devastating treatise on the human
condition and the course of Western civilisation. This work was
deemed to be so radically nihilistic, or so radically idealistic,
that publishers shied away from it for decades. This new English
translation brings to life the heartfelt text of the precocious
Italian-Jewish writer, poet and painter, who - refusing to
compromise with life - remained loyal to his ideal of a perfect
world. Keenly aware of the inevitable catastrophe that the values
of his time held in store for humanity, Carlo Michelstaedter, with
"Persuasion and Rhetoric", also provides a pithy - albeit
idiosyncratic - synthesis of the major currents of philosophical
thought that held sway at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Its searing honesty and mordant critique have lost none of their
immediacy, almost a century after the work was completed as a
university thesis. The reader is challenged to re-examine the dull
norms, conventions and patterns of thought all too readily adopted
as humanity willingly, pathetically, courts its own demise.; And
yet, amidst this gloomy vision, Michelstaedter forces the reader to
re-appraise the here-and-now, to summon the courage to live 'a life
worthy of being lived'.
In December 2011 an international conference took place in Oxford
to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Italo Svevo, and
to take stock of the continuing influence exerted by his work at
the start of the third millennium. With over 100 participants from
all over the world, the conference represented a unique moment of
reflection and exchange of ideas among the foremost Svevo
specialists. Resulting from that meeting, the 38 papers included in
this two volume publication represent the cream of current
scholarship on one of the best known (in Italy and abroad) among
the Italian writers at the turn from the 19th to the 20th century.
Svevo's masterpiece, La coscienza di Zeno (1923), was one of the
most significant Modernist novels, admired by the likes of J.
Joyce, T. Mann and E. Montale, and has become one of the major
narrative works in the Italian language. Taking advantage of the
unique richness of the cultural background of its Triestine author
and drawing abundantly from the Germanic philosophical tradition
(Schopenhauer in particular), the novel was also one of the very
first works of fiction to dialogue with Freudian discourse and with
Darwinian theories, at the same time effecting a true revolution in
terms of literary style; its legacy (as shown by several
contributors) is visible in terms of direct and indirect influence
on many Italian and non-Italian writers in the course of the 20th
century, and beyond. These two volumes will be an indispensable
companion to the work of all those (students, teachers,
researchers, or simple readers) who wish to understand the
momentous transformations taking place in Italy and in Europe at
the dawn of the past century and leading to the two World Wars and
the shaping of new models of society. Svevo's work is not only a
mirror of his own time from an unusual and particularly revealing
perspective, but also an exceptionally lucid analysis of the
fundamental questions elicited by those changes, and their effects
on human behaviour.
In December 2011 an international conference took place in Oxford
to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Italo Svevo, and
to take stock of the continuing influence exerted by his work at
the start of the third millennium. With over 100 participants from
all over the world, the conference represented a unique moment of
reflection and exchange of ideas among the foremost Svevo
specialists. Resulting from that meeting, the 38 papers included in
this two volume publication represent the cream of current
scholarship on one of the best known (in Italy and abroad) among
the Italian writers at the turn from the 19th to the 20th century.
Svevo's masterpiece, La coscienza di Zeno (1923), was one of the
most significant Modernist novels, admired by the likes of J.
Joyce, T. Mann and E. Montale, and has become one of the major
narrative works in the Italian language. Taking advantage of the
unique richness of the cultural background of its Triestine author
and drawing abundantly from the Germanic philosophical tradition
(Schopenhauer in particular), the novel was also one of the very
first works of fiction to dialogue with Freudian discourse and with
Darwinian theories, at the same time effecting a true revolution in
terms of literary style; its legacy (as shown by several
contributors) is visible in terms of direct and indirect influence
on many Italian and non-Italian writers in the course of the 20th
century, and beyond. These two volumes will be an indispensable
companion to the work of all those (students, teachers,
researchers, or simple readers) who wish to understand the
momentous transformations taking place in Italy and in Europe at
the dawn of the past century and leading to the two World Wars and
the shaping of new models of society. Svevo's work is not only a
mirror of his own time from an unusual and particularly revealing
perspective, but also an exceptionally lucid analysis of the
fundamental questions elicited by those changes, and their effects
on human behaviour.
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