#philosophynet

[kantkid]

Both Saint Augustine and Hannah Arendt were right on one unsettling thing: the world is not governed by two opposite living forces, one good and one evil. There is only the miracolous exception of good - and everything else, with its sad, hollow form.

[kantkid]

[The philosophers], once again forced by truth itself, gave themselves to the research of yet another principle.

- Aristotle, Methaph. 984b 10-12

[kantkid]

Hi Kantkid, lately I've been trying to diversify my taste in literature and I noticed that I don't know any Italian writers and poets, like at all. Can you recommend some artists I shouldn't miss, if i want to familiarize myself with Italian literature?Wishing you a lovely summer xxxx

This message is probably ages old, from a long period of semi-inactivity on Tumblr. I apologise to the anon for not answering earlier!! Now quarantine is giving me the time to go through all the old asks, and I hope this person will see the answer. I am always glad when foreign people are interested in my country’s literature and culture xxx

The basics: 

- Dante’s Divina Commedia: an absolute classic masterpiece, written in 1.321, during the golden age of Italian city-states (Italy as a united state was not born yet). It was a flourishing time for commerce, conquest, and literature, where Florence and many Italian cities were the peak of European culture. This poem in three books is the theological tale of the author descending in the underworld, to discover the destiny of souls after death, a symbolic tale of the highest beauty, with a deep philosophical meaning. It’s divided in three books: Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory), and Paradiso (Paradise). The English translation unfortunately looses the impressive musicality and structural perfection of the text - still unparalleled today in our literature - but retains the beauty of the story and its message.

- Il Principe by Niccolò Machiavelli: a treatise of incredibly modern political philosophy, written in 1513 at the court of Lorenzo ”The magnificent” de Medici, prince of Florence. Machiavelli was a courtesan and intellectual of the prince, known for its acume and his “the aim justifies the means” philosophy, still famous to this day, and present in worldwide popular culture. Inspired by the figures of of pope Alessandro VI Borgia and his son Cesare Borgia, the treatise describes the perfect ruler as a cunning, unscrupulous man devoted to reach the good of the country with shrewdness, at whatever cost. It has shaped the political vision of most European politicians of his time and after, and the author gives the name to the well-known “machiavellic” personality trait. 

- Anything by Giacomo Leopardi, genius poet of strong philosophical insight, born to the Count of San Leopardo in 1789 in a small country town. He lived a very secluded childhood and youth, his conservative father and his cold mother were extremely strict and stopped his various attempts at escaping the family house. Giacomo grew up a shy, intelligent boy, with severe health problems. He dedicated his whole life to reading, studying, and writing. He was a child genius, composing in latin and Ancient Greek aged eight or nine years old. He spoke 8 languages, most of which he learned independently, reading alone in his room. He is one of the brightest minds of the whole Italian literature, father of the pessimist philosophy, and an incredibly talented poet. Despite his general pessimism, and probably a severe form of depression, his poetry ultimately portrays human contact and social interaction as the only salvation from the nihilistic, indifferent world we live in.

The contemporary:

- La coscienza di Zeno by Italo Svevo: a memoir of a patient writing to his psychotherapist (inspired by the figure of Sigmund Freud). Through Zeno’s relationship with tobacco addiction, the book explores both the mind of the protagonist and the social atmosphere of a country on the verge of the Great War. The author was a friend of James Joyce, and the themes explored by the two authors are somehow parallel.

- La noia (Boredom) by Alberto Moravia: prominent existentialist author, Moravia analyses the theme of emotional void and lack of meaning through “the story of a failed artist and pampered son of a rich family who becomes dangerously attached to a young model, examines the complex relations between money, sex, and imperiled masculinity. This powerful and disturbing study in the pathology of modern life is one of the masterworks of a writer whom as Anthony Burgess once remarked, was "always trying to get to the bottom of the human imbroglio” (from Goodreads)

- Our ancestors trilogy by Italo Calvino:  The Cloven Viscount, The Baron in the Trees, The Non-Existent Knight compose the trilogy of novels published between 1952 and1959. Moral tales set in an eerie, imagined middle-age, with a surreal and often hilarious twist, they tell three stories that sound like fairytales but with an undoubtedly modern and introspective flair. The Cloven Viscount, for instance, tells the story of a knight who is split in half battling the Turks during a crusade, and his two halves keep living with different characters, one sweet and one cruel, which were both parts of the original personality of the knight. The Baron in the Trees is the tale of a noble-born child who is annoyed by family life and decides to move up a fig tree, never to return on the ground, and leads his whole life up on the branches of the tree. The Non-Existent Knight, Agulfus, is an empty suit of armour with a conscience...

I hope they can be a good start!! 

[quinoacowboys]

looking for pen pals!! please message me if you’d like to. we can share van gogh postcards and discuss our daily observations in-depth. 

[fortiespoet]

But after dark all that is most satisfactory in life swims back into the picture - the sprightly tarts, the men arguing with a hundred voilàs in the cafés, the couples drifting, head to head, towards the satisfactory inexpensiveness of nowhere.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tender is the Night

[kantkid]

Mum’s birthday

IG: @gretasmood

[kantkid]

There are guns that blaze around you / There are roses in between my thighs and fire that surrounds you / It’s no wonder every man in town had neither fought nor found you / Everything you do is elusive, too, even your honey dew / Our honeymoon / Dreaming away your life

IG: @gretasmood

[kantkid]

"Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford." — Samuel Johnson IG: @gretasmood