Contents

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Acknowledgments ix
4. Introduction: Modernist Idealism Revitalizing Italy 1
5. 1 Italy at the Banquet of Nations: Hegel in Politics and Philosophy 33
6. 2 Italy’s Modernist Idealism and the Artistic Reception of Schopenhauer 59
7. 3 Aesthetic Decadence and Modernist Idealism: Schopenhauer’s Literary-Artistic Legacy 81
8. 4 Avant-Garde Idealism: The Ambivalence of Futurist Vitalism 111
9. 5 Occult Spiritualism and Modernist Idealism: Reanimating the Dead World 136
10. 6 Cinematic Idealism: Modernist Visions of Spiritual Vitality Mediated by the Machine 165
11. Conclusion: Overdetermined Idealist Legacies 195
12. Appendix. Schopenhauer and Leopardi: A Dialogue between A and D 199
13. Notes 239
14. Works Cited 309
15. Index 349