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Carlo Michelstaedter

Born

in Gorizia, Italy

June 03, 1887

Died

October 17, 1910

Genre

Philosophy, Poetry

Influences

Arthur Schopenhauer, Giacomo Leopardi, Karl Marx, Heraclitus, Parmenid ...more

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Carlo Michelstaedter (3 June 1887 - 17 October 1910) was an Italian writer, philosopher, and man of letters.

Carlo Michelstaedter was born in Gorizia, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian County of Gorizia and Gradisca, as the youngest of four children in a well-to-do Italian-speaking Jewish family. From his father Alberto, the head of an insurance office and president of the Gabinetto di Lettura goriziano, he received a push towards literary study; from his mother Emma Luzzatto, a great love for family and country.

He was a scrappy and introverted boy, but by the end of high school (completed in Gorizia), he developed into a brilliant, athletic, intelligent youth. He enrolled in the department of mathematics in Vienna, but soon moved to Flore Carlo Michelstaedter (3 June 1887 - 17 October 1910) was an Italian writer, philosopher, and man of letters.

Carlo Michelstaedter was born in Gorizia, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian County of Gorizia and Gradisca, as the youngest of four children in a well-to-do Italian-speaking Jewish family. From his father Alberto, the head of an insurance office and president of the Gabinetto di Lettura goriziano, he received a push towards literary study; from his mother Emma Luzzatto, a great love for family and country.

He was a scrappy and introverted boy, but by the end of high school (completed in Gorizia), he developed into a brilliant, athletic, intelligent youth. He enrolled in the department of mathematics in Vienna, but soon moved to Florence, a city he savored for its arts and language. There he formed friendships with other students, and in the end enrolled in the department of letters of the local Istituto di Studi Superiori (1905). He majored in Greek and Latin, and selected for his laurea thesis a philosophical study of persuasion and rhetoric in ancient philosophy. In 1909 he returned to Gorizia and set himself to work on the thesis.

By about the fall of 1910, he completed his work, finishing the appendices by 17 October. He was surely very tired, and that day he had a fight with his mother, who complained he hadn't wished her a happy birthday. Left alone, Carlo took a loaded pistol he had in the house and killed himself. One of his friends from Florence, a Russian woman, had also committed suicide, and probably also a brother who lived in America. Friends and relatives published his works and collected his writings, now in the Biblioteca Civica di Gorizia.

Tracing the development of Michelstaedter's ideas is difficult: His philosophical vision seems to have formed suddenly, and his brief life didn't allow for time to explore other directions. For him common life is an absence of life, narrow and deluded as it is by the god of pleasure, which deceives man, promising pleasures and results that are not real, although he thinks they are. Rhetoric, -- that is the conventions of the individual, the weak, and society -- comprise social life, in which man overpowers nature and himself for his own pleasure. Only by living in the present as if every moment were the last can man free himself from the fear of death, and thus achieve Persuasion; that is, self-possession. Resignation and adapting onself to the world, for Michelstaedter, is the true death. ...more

Combine Editions
Carlo Michelstaedter’s books

Average rating: 4.18 · 540 ratings · 64 reviews · 19 distinct works • Similar authors

	Persuasion and Rhetoric by Carlo Michelstaedter, Wilhelm Snyman (Translator), Giuseppe Stellardi (Translator) 4.26 avg rating — 387 ratings — published 1910 — 26 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Poesie by Carlo Michelstaedter, Sergio Campailla (Editor) 3.94 avg rating — 71 ratings — published 1905 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Il dialogo della salute e altri dialoghi by Carlo Michelstaedter, Sergio Campailla (Editor) 4.24 avg rating — 45 ratings — published 1910 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	La melodia del giovane divino: Pensieri, racconti, critiche by Carlo Michelstaedter, Sergio Campailla (Editor) 3.50 avg rating — 24 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	La persuasione e la rettorica - Appendici critiche by Carlo Michelstaedter, Sergio Campailla (Editor) 4.75 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 1994 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Parmenide ed Eraclito. Empedocle. Appunti di filosofia 3.25 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 2003	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Epistolario by Carlo Michelstaedter, Sergio Campailla (Editor) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 3 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Diálogo de la salud. Poesías it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 1912 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sfugge la vita. Taccuini e appunti liked it 3.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Opere di Carlo Michelstaedter 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Carlo Michelstaedter (?)

“One place is as good as another, in the valley without exit...”
― Carlo Michelstaedter, Persuasion and Rhetoric

tags: way-to-persuasion

19 likes

“Life is all one long hard thing.
He must have the courage to feel alone, to look his own pain in the face, bearing the entire weight of it.”
― Carlo Michelstaedter, Persuasion and Rhetoric

tags: life, loneliness, pain, pessimism

14 likes

“Man 'knows', which is why he is always two : his life and his knowing.”
― Carlo Michelstaedter, Persuasion and Rhetoric

tags: michelstaedter, self-consciousness

12 likes

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