by Galvano Della Volpe (Author), Michael Caesar (Translator)

Galvano Della Volpe was the dominant philosopher of Italian Marxism for twenty years after the Liberation. His most important book was a work of aesthetic theory--Critique of Taste. Della Volpe, proponent of a robust materialism in all his writings, was concerned to rehabilitate the inherently rational and intellectual nature of art. Opposing both the sociological reductionism of Plekhanov or Luk cs, and the formalist irrationalism of Croce or New Criticism, Della Volpe's aim was to demonstrate that conceptual meaning is always inseparable from aesthetic effect.

Whether he is discussing Pindar or G ngora, Cleanth Brooks or Roland Barthes, Goethe or Mallarm , Della Volpe is always challenging, always illuminating. Critique of Taste represents one of the major crossroads of twentieth-century aesthetics.

Author Biography

Galvano Della Volpe was born in 1895. From Logica come scienza positiva in 1950 his work had increasing influence, and the publication of Rousseau e Marx in 1960 confirmed the importance of his thought within Italian Marxism. Della Volpe died in 1968.