Small Moral Works

Small Moral Works

The title page of the expanded 1835 publication
Author	Giacomo Leopardi
Original title	Operette morali
Country	Italy
Language	Italian
Genre	Philosophy
Published	1827 (1st edition)

Small Moral Works (Italian: Operette morali) is a collection of 24 writings (dialogues and fictional essays) by Italian poet and philosopher Giacomo Leopardi, written between 1824 and 1832.

Themes

The themes revolve around the philosophical ideas of the author: the relationship of mankind with History and Nature, the comparison with the valours of the past and the degenerated situation of the present, illusions, glory and boredom. One of the most famous dialogues is the Dialogo della Natura e di un Islandese, in which the author expresses his main philosophical ideas, through the imaginary meeting, "in the heart of Africa", between a simple man coming from Iceland and a giant, beautiful and terrible woman, Nature, who has been chasing and oppressing him everywhere.

Structure

This is the list of the dialogues and essays:

• Storia del genere umano, (History of the human kind)
  (January 19 / February 7 1824)
• Dialogo di Ercole e di Atlante, (Dialogue between Hercules and Atlas)
  (February 10 / February 13, 1824)
• Dialogo della Moda e della Morte, (Dialogue between Fashion and Death)
  (February 15 / February 18, 1824)
• Proposta di premi fatta all'Accademia dei Sillografi, (Proposal for prizes at the Academy of the Sillographes)
  (February 22 / February 25, 1824)
• Dialogo di un Folletto e di uno Gnomo, (Dialogue between a Pixie and a Gnome)
  (March 2 / March 6, 1824)
• Dialogo di Malambruno e di Farfarello, (Dialogue between Malambruno and Farfarello)
  (April 1 / April 3, 1824)
• Dialogo della Natura e di un'Anima, (Dialogue between the Nature and a Soul)
  (April 9 / April 14, 1824)
• Dialogo della Terra e della Luna, (Dialogue between the Earth and the Moon)
  (April 24 / April 28, 1824)
• La scommessa di Prometeo, (The bet of Prometheus)
  (April 30 / May 8, 1824)
• Dialogo di un fisico e di un metafisico, (Dialogue between a Physicist and a Metaphysicist)
  (May 14 / May 19, 1824)
• Dialogo della Natura e di un Islandese, (Dialogue between the Nature and an Icelander)
  (May 21 / May 30, 1824)
• Dialogo di Torquato Tasso e del suo Genio familiare, (Dialogue between Torquato Tasso and his family Genie)
  (June 1 / June 10, 1824)
• Dialogo di Timandro e di Eleandro, (Dialogue between Timandro and Eleandro)
  (June 14 / June 24, 1824)
• Il Parini, ovvero Della Gloria, (Parini, or about the Glory)
  (July 6 / August 30, 1824)
• Dialogo di Federico Ruysch e delle sue mummie, (Dialogue between Frederick Ruysch and his mummies)
  (August 16 / August 23, 1824)
• Detti memorabili di Filippo Ottonieri, (Memorable sayings about Filippo Ottonieri)
  (August 29 / September 26, 1824)
• Dialogo di Cristoforo Colombo e di Pietro Gutierrez (Dialogue between Christopher Columbus and Peter Gutierrez)
  (October 19 / November 5, 1824)
• Elogio degli uccelli (Eulogy of the Birds)
  (October 29 / November 5, 1824)
• Cantico del gallo silvestre (Sylvan Rooster Chant)
  (November 10 / November 16, 1824)
• Frammento apocrifo di Stratone da Lampsaco, (Apocryphal passage of Strato of Lampsacus)
  (autumn 1825)
• Il Copernico, (Copernicus)
  (1827)
• Dialogo di Plotino e Porfirio, (Dialogue between Plotinus and Porphyry)
  (1827)
• Dialogo di un venditore d'almanacchi e di un passeggere (Dialogue between an almanac seller and a passer-by)
  (1832)
• Dialogo di Tristano e di un amico (Dialogue between Tristano and a Friend)
  (1832)

References