Nothing to Declare? Authorship and Contradiction In and Around Giacomo Leopardi's Canti (original) (raw)

ABSTRACT The essay explores the construction of Leopardi's authorial persona, focussing on the key concepts of contradiction and retraction through an examination of the works which were later brought together in his Canti (definitive edition 1845). Self-contradiction, apostasy, and the continuous redefinition of the figure of the author – also through irony and desacralization – are shown to characterize Leopardi, both as a poet and as a philosopher. The essay argues that these elements play an important in Leopardi's work, which acknowledges the need for openness, dilemma, and doubt as features of modern literature.