The Child of Pleasure
1889
Gabriele D'Annunzio's scandalous 1889 debut novel launched Italian Aestheticism into the realm of European decadence. Count Andrea Sperelli inhabits a world where life itself becomes raw material for artistic self-creation, he rejects bourgeois morality, spurns conventional society, and pursues beauty with the intensity of a religious mystic. His Roman existence is a carefully constructed aesthetic project, each sensation refined into pleasure. At its heart lies his dangerous entanglement with two women: Elena Muti, the passionate Duchess of Scerni, and Maria Ferres, the beautiful wife of a foreign diplomat. But beneath the glittering surfaces of wealth and sensuality lies a psychological darkness, the protagonist's refined sensibility has become indistinguishable from corruption. The novel asks what remains when pleasure becomes the only purpose, and beauty is pursued without anchor or consequence. It is essential reading for anyone drawn to the great European portraits of aristocratic decay.
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“And in the kisses, what deep sweetness! There are women's mouths that seem to ignite with love the breath that opens them. Whether they are reddened by blood richer than purple, or frozen by the pallor of agony, whether they are illuminated by the goodness of consent or darkened by the shadow of disdain, they always carry within them an enigma that disturbs men of intellect, and attracts them and captivates them. A constant discord between the expression of the lips and that of the eyes generates the mystery; it seems as if a duplicitous soul reveals itself there with a different beauty, happy and sad, cold and passionate, cruel and merciful, humble and proud, laughing and mocking; and the abiguity arouses discomfort in the spirit that takes pleasure in dark things.””
— Gabriele D'Annunzio
“Perché ella voleva partire? Perché ella voleva spezzare l'incanto? I loro destini ormai non erano legati per sempre?Egli aveva bisogno di lei per vivere, degli occhi, della voce, del pensiero di lei... egli era tutto penetrato da quell'amore, aveva tutto il sangue alterato come da un veleno, senza rimedio.Perché ella voleva fuggire? Egli si sarebbe avviticchiato a lei, l'avrebbe prima soffocata sul suo petto.No, non poteva essere... Mai! Mai!””
— Gabriele D'Annunzio
“If they told me right now to abandon all vanity and all pride, every desire and every ambition, any dearest memory of the past, the sweetest future enticement, and to live uniquely in you and for you, without any tomorrow, without any yesterday, without any other bond, without any other preference, out of the world, entirely lost in your being, forever, until death, I would not hesitate, I would not hesitate. Believe me. You have looked at me, spoken with me, and smiled and answered; you have sat beside me, and you have been silent and thought; and you have lived, alongside me, your eternal existence, that invisible and inaccessible existence that I do not know, that I will never know; and your soul has possessed mine right down to the depths, without changing, without even knowing it, like the sea drinks a river... What does my love do for you? What does love do for you? It is a word that has been profaned too many times, a sentiment that has been falsified too many times. I do not offer you love. But will you not accept the humble tribute of religion that the spirit addresses to a nobler and higher being?””
— Gabriele D'Annunzio
“He wanted to possess not the body but the soul of that woman; and to possess her entire soul, with all her tenderness, all her joys, all her fears, all her anguish, all her dreams, in other words, the entire lief of her soul; and to be able to say: I am the life of her life.””
— Gabriele D'Annunzio
“She has a great and rare virtue: she is cheerful, but she can understand the sufferings of others and also knows how to soothe them with her mindful compassion. She is, above all, an intellectual woman, a woman of refined tastes, a perfect woman, a friend who is not a burden. She takes perhaps a little too much pleasure in witticisms and clever phrases, but her arrows always have a golden point and are shot with inimitable grace. Certainly, among all the worldly ladies I have known, she is the finest; among all my friends, she is my favorite.””
— Gabriele D'Annunzio
“gli sorrise d’un sorriso cosí tenue, direi quasi cosí immateriale, che non parve espresso da un moto delle labbra, sí bene da una irradiazione dell’anima per le labbra, mentre gli occhi rimanevan tristi pur sempre, e come smarriti nella lontananza d’un sogno interiore. Eran veramente gli occhi della Notte, cosí inviluppati d’ombra, quali per una Allegoria avrebbeli forse imaginati il Vinci dopo aver veduta in Milano Lucrezia Crivelli.””
— Gabriele D'Annunzio
“In the austere pages of the Revue des Deux Mondes he carefully explained to his readers that d'Annunzio's lewdness must not be confused with the obscenities of Zola, whereat Ouida protested that they were alike in their complacent preoccupation with mere filth. The Frenchman is the sounder critic, it must be said, for while d'Annunzio frequently parallels some of the most unclean”
— Gabriele D'Annunzio
“il verso è tutto e può tutto.””
— Gabriele D'Annunzio
“La convalescenza è una purificazione e un rinascimento. Non mai il senso della vita è soave come dopo l'angoscia del male; e non mai l'anima umana più inclina alla bontà e alla fede come dopo aver guardato negli abissi della morte.””
— Gabriele D'Annunzio
