Celebrating Decadence: The Image of Abruzzo in D’Annunzio’s Trionfo della morte

Abstract

Gabriele D’Annunzio (1863–1938) was one of the most peculiar figures among the European fin-de-siècle intellectuals and Italian decadentismo. Although he spent most of his life mingling with the high society of different Italian cities, D’Annunzio remained tied to the place of his birth in the remote region of Abruzzo. This article surveys D’Annunzio’s representation of Abruzzo in his 1894 novel Trionfo della morte (The Triumph of Death). The focus is on the different sources and strategies D’Annunzio used to create an image of his native region. I argue that the representation of Abruzzo as a primitive wilderness not only reflects D’Annunzio’s social critique but was also driven by purely economic concerns. By exploiting the style of other literary classics and by playing on the popular taste for the macabre, D’Annunzio, I suggest, intended to make the novel more attractive to the book market and at the same time to mystify his own personality.