Abstract

The thesis examines the self-definition of the end of the nineteenth century as ‘fin de siècle’ and as an epochal turning point. It investigates the circumstances that generated new time perceptions and representations in this timespan, with particular reference to late-nineteenth century Italy. The study provides an analysis of essays, treatises, literary works, conference presentations, speeches, and articles of the periodical press, which discussed and thematized the main features of the nineteenth century and of the early years of the twentieth century. While analogous works were produced elsewhere in Europe and overseas, where they have been recognized as a genre, equivalent works that were composed in Italy have never been addressed as a corpus. The thesis responds to the need of such a scrutiny and it explores the Italian end-of-the-century economy of ‘discursive fields’ and conceptual ‘constellations’. The research has been inspired and informed by the approach suggested by the history of concepts, Koselleck’s studies, and Stephen Kern’s research. A comparative and an interdisciplinary perspective have been jointly adopted. The former has served to ascertain cross-currents in cultural discourses between Italy and other European countries, namely France, the UK, Germany, Sweden, alongside Russia and the US. The interdisciplinary perspective has proved necessary to reflect the cross-fertilization between forms of knowledge typical of the fin-de-siècle cultural production and has allowed the investigation of the disciplinary variety of the works herein examined addressing philosophy and literary criticism, history and politics, psychology, literature.