Gabriele d'Annunzio

Gabriele d'Annunzio, Prince of Montenevoso
(1863-1938)
here in his studio in 1894
La Fondazione il Vittoriale degli Italiani
(http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2013/09/01/books/review/01BERMAN.html)
no copyright infringement intended

I found in the NY Times section of Books a review of a new biography of the prolific and charismatic writer, considered by many the greatest Italian poet since Dante. The author of the biography is Lucy Hughes-Hallett, a British cultural historian, who argues that d'Annunzio both exemplified and promoted the most extreme strain of turn-of-the-century Italian nationalism, and his poems, plays, novels and journalism conveyed a disgust and boredom with the contemporary world and a longing for a more heroic era — one in which supermen like himself, unbound by tradition, could bring art and beauty to a world desperately in need of them. You can read the NY Times review at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/01/books/review/gabriele-dannunzio-by-lucy-hughes-hallett.html

(Una Vita Tra I Libri)