If you're someone who gets annoyed when people call something art and it feels like junk, capuana wrote 'Gli ismi contemporanei' pretty much just for you. He watched artists of his time go wild with new ideas—realism this, naturalism that, decadentism, symbolism—and he sat down to explain what each cult-ish movement was all about . . . and whether they were amazing rescue missions for art—or frivilous stunts.

The Story

This isn't exactly a tidy storyline—because it's a set of sharp essays, not a historic tale. Capuana lines up all those crazy new 'isms' rising in late-1800s italy and mid-european book scenes. He explores each movement like a light bulb with a dimmer switch for meaning: realism (show life honestly), decadence (celebrate fragility), naturalism (science for characters), purism (sentences as sculpture), and some wacky others. He grins, raises eyebrows, admits confusion. The central push asks: Are these trends creative ferment or empty glory-chasing? What kind of truth do even revolutionary styles dare to claim?

Why You Should Read It

Capuana is stubbornly witty. The conversation stays off a museum pedestal and lands like gossip between friend writers at dinner. He gets giddy over weird expressions even doubtful experiments . . . but remains too honest to hype junk simply for being bold. And come on—one moment late 1800s art feels disconnected from my everyday life; next minute Capuana’s passion makes me grasp a sculpture representing some vast modern age's anxiety. Personal favorite part: his hilarious undressing of pomperous early abstraction still sounds eerily alive today . It’s rewarding not because it pats you on the back, but because he wasn’t a sterile guide; here’s a working artist trying loudly to figure most things out. Extremely animated debate disguised as classic wisdom.

Final Verdict

This book gets underin your skin if : you suspect modern art isn’t a trainwreck merely—you deeply wish to see how we arrived here—who kicked off art free-fall into provocative extreme sensation. If jargon makees you choke, worry not: new literature lovers will manage just fine, laughing with Capuna’s surprise spicy jokes. A fair warning though. His appetite for quirky nuance can send occasional tangled passages. Nonetheless, if what moves you is raw commitment to feeling when past becomes messy present, Gli ismi stands firmly the good company of passionate odd fellows attempting self-questions publicly.