This book focuses on the notion of desire in late-nineteenth-century Italy, and how this notion shapes the life and works of two of Italy s most prominent authors at that time, Giovanni Pascoli and Gabriele D Annunzio. In the fin de siecle, the philosophical speculation on desire, inspired by Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche intersected the popularization of Charles Darwin s theory of evolution. Within this context, desire is conceptualized as an obscure force and remnant of mankind s animalistic origins. Both Pascoli and D Annunzio put into play the drama of desire as a force splitting the unity of the characters in their works, and variously attempt to provide solutions to this haunting force within the human self.".