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
