Studi sulla letteratura contemporanea : Prima serie

The first section opens with a thoughtful essay by Luigi Capuana, who argues that form cannot exist apart from the ideas that generate it. Drawing on De Sanctis and De Meis, he suggests that a work’s shape is a living expression of its content, and that a beautiful idea doomed by weak execution fails as literature. This compact manifesto sets the tone for a series of analyses that examine how contemporary authors balance aesthetic structure with intellectual purpose.

In the heart of the volume, listeners encounter a selection of previously unpublished pages from the French historian Jules Michelet. His daily journals, written in scattered notebook pages, reveal a mind that oscillates between lyrical enthusiasm, restless anxiety, and deep affection for Italy. The passages convey his intimate reflections, fleeting moods, and the passionate, sometimes extravagant, way he recorded his thoughts. Listening to these texts offers a rare glimpse into the personal currents that shaped a major 19th‑century intellectual, while also illustrating the broader themes of literary criticism introduced at the beginning.