Winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize for Nonfiction
Winner of the Costa Biography Award
**Washington Post Best Books of 2013**
**Economist Best Books of 2013**
This fascinating life of Gabriele d'Annunzio--the charismatic poet, bon vivant, and virulent nationalist who prefigured Mussolini--traces the early twentieth century's trajectory from Romantic idealism to Fascist thuggery.
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"A stunning portrait of a . . . decadent poet and proto-Fascist firebrand. . . . Reads like a picaresque novel." --The New Yorker
"A richly detailed portrait of an eminently civilized sociopath. . . . Appalling but, as Hughes-Hallett presents him, completely enthralling." --Booklist "Compulsively readable. . . . D'Annunzio was arguably the finest Italian writer of his time, an aesthete who made Oscar Wilde look like a bourgeois, a sexual charmer of Casanovan suavity and appetite . . . a political zealot and spellbinding orator." -The Washington Post (Best Books of 2013) "A wonderful biography. . . . Although himself the least empathetic of men, [d'Annunzio] has attracted a biographer of rare sensibility who has set out not to condemn but to understand. The result is a magnificent and beautifully written book that makes readers feel they have really come to know d'Annunzio, his many faults, his fewer virtues, and his enormous talent for life." --New York Review of Books"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize for NonfictionWinner of the Costa Biography Award**Washington Post Best Books of 2013****Economist Best Books of 2013**This fascinating life of Gabriele dAnnunziothe charismatic poet, bon vivant, and virulent nationalist who prefigured Mussolinitraces the early twentieth centurys trajectory from Romantic idealism to Fascist thuggery. DAnnunzio was Italys premier poet at a time when poetry could trigger riots. A brilliant self-publicist, he used his fame to sell his work, seduce women, and promote his extreme nationalism. At once an aesthete and a militarist, he enjoyed risking death no less than making love, and he wrote with equal enthusiasm about Fortuny gowns and torpedoes. In 1915 his incendiary oratory helped drive Italy into the First World War, and in 1919 he led a troop of mutineers into the Croatian port of Fiume, where he established a delinquent utopia. Futurists, anarchists, communists and proto-fascists descended on the place, along with literati and thrill-seekers, drug dealers and prostitutes. Three years later, when the fascists marched on Rome, they belted out anthems theyd learned in Fiume, while Mussolini consciously modeled himself on the great poet. Lucy Hughes-Halletts compelling biography is a revelation both of dAnnunzios flamboyant life and of the dramatic times he helped to shape. Originally published: New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780307276551
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