«Le cose che non sono»

Abstract

This paper focuses on the concept of imagination in Giacomo Leopardi’s works, studying its evolution, from the Querelle des Anciens et des Modernes, to the latest theoretical formulations. From the Discorso di un italiano intorno alla poesia romantica to the determination of imagination as the «source of the reason» (Zib. 2134), Leopardi’s perspective changes drastically, due to his reflection on the bounds of rational knowledge (derived from xviiith century empirism and sensism and, mainly, from John Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Bayle’s Dictionnaire). Through an analytic confrontation with Sartre’s works (L’imagination and L’imaginaire), this paper aims to present a theory of Leopardi’s imagination capable of solving the issues arising from its integration within the epistemological orientation of the Zibaldone.

Keywords

• leopardi
• sartre
• immaginazione
• ragione
• coscienza