The Child of Pleasure (written in 1888 and published in 1889) and its protagonist Andrea Sperelli introduced Italian culture of the late 1800's to Aestheticism and a taste for decadence. Sperelli is a young count, who - like Joris Karl Huysmans' Baron Des Esseintes or Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray - following family tradition, seeks beauty and despises the bourgeois world; leads an extraordinary life, which he lives as a work of art; and rejects the basic rules of morality and social interaction. However, this extraordinary sensitivity also implies a certain corruption, evident in his sadistic superimposing of the two women: Elena Muti and Maria Ferres.

"I believe that the three writers of the nineteenth century who had the greatest natural talents were D'Annunzio, Kipling and Tolstoy." - James Joyce "In Gabriele D'Annunzio's new novel, 'The Intruder, ' doubtless certain decadent critics will see a triumph of art, a manifestation of genius; just what ordinary, healthy-minded people will see therein it is difficult to say. The book will, however, certainly arouse disgust in such of them as read it.... For many reasons 'The Intruder' is a book much better left unread." - "The New York Times" Tullio Hermil is a Nietzschean superman: handsome, intelligent, and powerful, he believes himself to be superior to other men and beyond the reach of their judgment. A dandy and an aesthete, Tullio is repeatedly unfaithful to his loving and innocent wife Juliana, who bears his ill-treatment and infidelity with patience. At last, growing weary of his debauchery, Tullio decides to attempt a reconciliation with his wife, but he is horrified to find that, in a single weak moment, Juliana has succumbed to the advances of another man and has gotten pregnant. And when the baby - the Intruder - arrives, Tullio begins to contemplate an unspeakable crime that will lead to deadly results. First published in Italian in 1891, "The Intruder" ("L'innocente") was controversial because of its questionable morality. The present edition reprints the rare unabridged 1898 American edition translated by Arthur Hornblow, rather than the more commonly reprinted bowlderized British translation of 1897. Although initially recognized as a giant of modern European literature, D'Annunzio's reputation has suffered much from his ties to Mussolini's fascism, and it is to be hoped that this edition, which features an original introductory essay by Paul Fox, will lead to a rediscovery of his works.

The third in a cycle of novels exploring the lives of the Italian bourgeoisie, The Triumph of Death was inspired by the author's interpretation of the work of Friedrich Nietzsche and Walter Pater. Considered a central text of Italian Decadentism, the novel has earned comparisons to the work of Oscar Wilde and Joris-Karl Huysmans.