SOURCE: Bonadeo, Alfredo. “Leopardi's Concept of Nature.” In The Two Hesperias: Literary Studies in Honor of Joseph G. Fucilla, edited by Americo Bugliani, pp. 69-87. Madrid: José Porrúa Turanzas, 1977.

In the following essay, Bonadeo explores the two phases of Leopardi's views on nature; the poet originally considered nature a benign force, but later began to see nature as hostile toward humanity.

The concept of nature in Leopardi's work has been, and still is controversial. Nature, and fate in Leopardi's poetical works were interpreted by De Sanctis as «due persone poetiche sotto le quali si nasconde una concezione del mondo essenzialmente materialista»¹. This materialistic view of nature as an impersonal force governing blindly man's life met with great favor among future critics, and was also applied to Leopardi's prose, specifically to that part that is said to represent the last phase of his thought. Recent and current criticism...