Giovanni Papini, an Italian pragmatist philosopher and literary figure, was born in Florence into a family of modest means and had no formal education. Papini described himself in his Un uomo finito (Florence, 1913; translated by Virginia Page as Failure; Un Uomo Finito, New York, 1924), a book that was frankly and painfully biographical, as self-taught, urged on by an insatiable curiosity and a burning desire to investigate the various forms of knowledge. He quickly made a name for himself in Italian culture at the beginning of the twentieth century with his attack on the then prevailing positivist philosophy of Roberto Ardigò and his support of nationalistic tendencies and opposition to the ideals of democracy. He became a close friend of Giuseppe Prezzolini and other young writers who advocated doing away with the old oligarchies and giving a new impetus to the spiritual life of the...