Parodied Knowledge: Leopardi and the Athenaeum of Listening

The paper revolves around the anti-academic diatribe developed by Leopardi in his late Thoughts and inspired by an intense social and civil sensibility. Striving to arrange his unfinished Handbook of Practical Philosophy, the poet shuns not only the uncontrolled diffusion of books and mediocre authors, but also the annoying habit of reciting verses in public: “the recitation by authors of their own compositions is one of the most imperious needs of human nature” (Thought no. 20). By means of the Athaeneum of Listening, Leopardi fuels the anti-academic diatribe coming from his essays, dialogues and poems, in line with a discursive strategy rooted in the harsh criticism of official and pedantic knowledge in urban environments. This is why the Athaeneum of Listening can be interpreted as the metaphor of social, cultural and educational short circuits of urban living, and often deals with the search for gratification through cultural ostentation.