Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Valesio aims to provide a re-examination of d'Annunzio's philosophical and poetic thought that will lead the reader to a fuller appreciation of the aesthetic value of his vast literary output. Valesio addresses critically all the major genres in which d'Annunzio expressed himself.

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CHOICE Review

A book of extraordinary importance, this is the most in-depth and original study of D'Annunzio to have appeared in English, written by a scholar who has dedicated many years to a reevaluation of this complex and always challenging writer. Valesio has virtually single-handedly revolutionized D'Annunzian criticism in America over the last 15 or so years. His earlier articles and his teaching have shaped a new generation of scholars whose views of D'Annunzio now contribute as well to a deeper and more accurate assessment of one of Modernism's richest voices. This study deals with all of the major genres in which D'Annunzio worked (poetry, prose narrative, theater, essays) with passion, critical acuity, and genuine originality of approach. Valesio does not shy away from the difficult ideological, social, and moral issues that attach to any serious assessment of D'Annunzio's production and role in modern culture, but he does make clear his refusal to approach such issues with biases conditioned by simplistically politicized or dichotomized views (fascistic vs. anti-fascistic, for example), seeking instead the true aesthetic and philosophical worth of D'Annunzio's astounding art. The study includes a chapter on Pier Paolo Pasolini, whose literature of politics is read as having been conditioned and prepared by aspects of D'Annunzian thought, and a highly original concluding chapter that investigates the points of contiguity between the D'Annunzian "continent" and American writers such as Whitman. A little-known critical essay by D'Annunzio, "Dant de Flourence," ends the volume. An essential book for all academic libraries. R. West; University of Chicago