Leopardi’s prose Operette morali stage a history of the human race and conversations between Hercules and Atlas, Fashion and Death, the Earth and the Moon, and Nature and an Icelander who has fled her across the globe. Through comedy and fable he questions glory, progress and happiness. A biographical sketch by the translator, Charles Edwardes, introduces the poet.
Witty, melancholy and startlingly modern, these dialogues show why Leopardi stands beside the greatest European pessimists. Download the free EPUB.