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Leopardi's Zibaldone is a collection of thoughts devised for publication, which, however, were not finalized nor published during the life of the author (unlike the Canti and Operette morali ). First released between 1898 and 1900 with the title Pensieri di varia filosofia e di bella letteratura, the Zibaldone is a posthumous work, an exemplary adulterous text, whose editorial and critical interpretation has been strongly affected by the moulding force of history. On 13 August 1968 Sebastiano Timpanaro wrote to Sergio Solmi: «As far as a general assessment of Leopardi's work is concerned, it is natural that yours is quite different from mine, because our personal "philosophies" are different». The debate on concepts such as 'mezza filosofia', 'civiltà media', and 'sistema' in which the two critics were involved, justifies the hypothesis that Leopardi's relativism, which, as Solmi noted accidentally, featured Leopardi's critique of rationalism, may offer an interpretative key to bear out the existence of a 'philosophical system' in the Zibaldone .
