The flame

This powerful novel by Italy's renowned Decadent writer depicts the passionate struggle of two gifted artists for supremacy in love and art. A talented young writer, Stelio Effrena is infatuated with Foscarina, an actress at the peak of her fame. Together they dream of creating an ideal, popular theater. But Stelio's obsession with his own ideas and jealousy of her following steer him away from Foscarina, to ward the attractions of a younger woman. Tormented by this knowledge, Foscarina's love becomes desperate and she is overcome by a sense of foreboding at her own loss of youth. One of the great works of fin-de siecle European literature, The Flame was drawn from D'Annunzio's stormy relationship with Eleonora Duse. Such an exposure of the private lives of two of Italy's most public figures caused a scandal when the book first appeared in 1900.