French Literature Reviews - 2026

B. Guastella, Giacomo Leopardi, Heretical and Untimely
Philosophy, Anthropology and Ideas

Biagio Guastella, Giacomo Leopardi, Heretical and Untimely

Preface by Alberto Giovanni Biuso.

Paris: L'Harmattan, "La Philosophie en commun", 2015.

146 p.

EAN 9782343065298 (EAN Ebook format Pdf: 9782336385471)

16.00 EUR (digital version: 11.99 EUR)

Publisher's Overview:

Among heretical philosophers, often overlooked by academic thought, Leopardi holds a unique place as a figure who shook the Western intellectual world in the early 19th century, shortly before Nietzsche. The thinker from Recanati was fully aware of his own genius as a poet-philosopher, confirming the thesis that makes him the first philosopher-artist. Free, independent, and a brilliant defiler of the 19th-century myth of progress, Leopardi stands out as an untimely thinker—a heretic in the truest sense of the word. This book aims to contribute to the rediscovery of this extraordinary thinker.

Biagio Guastella examines the legacy of Giacomo Leopardi, positioning him as a heretical thinker who shook the Western intellectual world in the early nineteenth century. The study highlights the thinker from Recanati as a brilliant defiler of the nineteenth-century myth of progress. By emphasizing Leopardi's independence and status as a poet-philosopher, the volume aims to contribute to the rediscovery of this extraordinary and untimely figure.

Readers interested in nineteenth-century philosophy and intellectual history may find this volume relevant. The text engages with the significance of an author whose unorthodox perspectives and critical stance toward the myth of progress continue to provoke reflection on artistic genius, intellectual independence, and the broader currents of the Western philosophical tradition.