Description
Book SynopsisOffering 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 in 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. Michael J. Subialka 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. The author’s main contention is that, in various media and with so
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 Paradigm Chapter 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 Idealism Chapter 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 Idealism Chapter 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 Renewal Chapter 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 Corra Chapter 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 Durée Chapter 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 Coda Appendix Schopenhauer and Leopardi: A Dialogue between A and D by Francesco De Sanctis Notes Works Cited
