of reason which, rejecting the necessary illusions of myth and religion in favor of a dark reality of annihilation and emptiness, can only generate unhappiness. The Zibaldone contains the poetic and existential itinerary of Leopardi himself; it is a miscellanea of philosophical annotations, schemes, entire compositions, moral reflections, judgements, small idylls, erudite discussions and impressions. Leopardi, even while remaining outside of the circles of philosophical debate of his century, was able to elaborate an extremely innovative and provocative vision of the world. It is not much of a stretch to define Leopardi as the father of what would eventually come to be called nihilism. Schopenhauer, in mentioning the great minds of all ages who opposed optimism and expressed their knowledge of the world's misery, wrote: In popular culture Samuel Beckett refers to Leopardi's work several times in his critical study Proust and quotes a passage from "A Se Stesso," "non che la speme il desiderio," in the English version of his 1951 novel Molloy. In "The Part about the Crimes", the fourth part of Roberto Bolaño's novel 2666, Canto notturno di un pastore errante dell'Asia is extensively quoted by a television psychic named Florita Almada who somewhat confuses it for an account of the early life of Benito Juárez. The title of Carlo Forlivesi's album, Silenziosa Luna, is a quotation from the same poem. The 2014 Italian film Leopardi is a biography of his life. Selected English translations Leopardi, Giacomo (2021). Canti: The ten most beautiful poems. Translated by Albino Nolletti (Bilingual Edition). Amazon. See also Evgeny Baratynsky – Russian poet often compared to Leopardi References Further reading Croce, Benedetto (1924). "Leopardi." In: European Literature in the Nineteenth Century. London: Chapman & Hall, pp. 111–130. Fletcher, Constance (1885). "Leopardi," The Nineteenth Century, Vol. 18, pp. 978–992. Nolletti, Albino (2020). Giacomo Leopardi Canti: The ten most famous and beautiful poems. Translated by Albino Nolletti (on Amazon) Oliphant, Margaret (1865). "Giacomo Leopardi," Blackwood's Magazine, Vol. 98, pp. 459–480. Rossetti, W.M. (1900). "Leopardi." In: Studies in European Literature. Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp. 55–91. External links Giacomo Leopardi at Cambridge Digital Library Biography at Poetry Foundation "The Canti" by Giacomo Leopardi. English translation by A.S. Kline. "Giacomo Leopardi e La Poesia" , original Italian text. Giacomo Leopardi's works: text, concordances and frequency list. . Giacomo Leopardi Poems Giacomo Leopardi Poems on Poemhunter 1798 births 1837 deaths 19th-century Italian philosophers 19th-century Italian poets 19th-century Italian