Umberto Carpi’s Classicism

Abstract

The article analyses Umberto Carpi’s essays on German classical aesthetics and on Italian literary classicism. In the 1980s Carpi studied Schiller, Hölderlin, Goethe, Hegel, Rosenkranz and translated Wilhelm von Humboldt’s Essays on antiquity, developing the theoretical basis for interpreting the great classic Italian poetry of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. This classicistic poetry evidently reflects the fact that the pressures of the evolving capitalistic economy made it difficult for the modern man to fully appreciate the aesthetics of beauty. The article traces the evolution of Carpi’s criticism through his essay on Leopardi’s canzone Alla Primavera o delle favole antiche.

Annalisa Andreoni
a.andreoni@gmail.com
Università IULM di Milano