Opuscula moralia

Leopardi's Operette morali has been regarded in Italy since its first publication in 1827 as a prime example of satirical-philosophical prose art with a poetic foundation: original fables, scenes about the fate of humanity in its confusions and complexities—a narrative philosophy comparable to Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra. These pieces are stimulating, bursting with spirit and wit, and are often melancholic yet cheerful, mostly in a dialogical format, written in a light and melodic prose. The title Operette morali (literally: moral little works) has been Latinized by the translator, as Leopardi was inspired by Plutarch's Moralia, while Kroeber also thought of Adorno's Minima Moralia. The translation includes explanatory notes and a foreword by Burkhart Kroeber, and is complemented by an essay by Paul Heyse on Leopardi's worldview.