The Intruder, by Gabriele D’Annunzio || Masterpiece Collection || Audiobook by LA CASE Books.

“I believe that the three writers of the nineteenth century who had the greatest natural talents were D’Annunzio, Kipling and Tolstoy.” – James Joyce.

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.

Gabriele D’Annunzio

General Gabriele D’Annunzio, Prince of Montenevoso (12 March 1863 – 1 March 1938), was an Italian poet, playwright, orator, journalist, aristocrat, and army officer during World War I.

He occupied a prominent place in Italian literature from 1889 to 1910 and later political life from 1914 to 1924.