Marla Stone
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153599
- eISBN:
- 9781400845248
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153599.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
This chapter examines how the specter of a demonic Communist enemy came to occupy a central place in the Italian Fascist imaginary during the regime's mobilization of the politics of fear. Two ...
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This chapter examines how the specter of a demonic Communist enemy came to occupy a central place in the Italian Fascist imaginary during the regime's mobilization of the politics of fear. Two critical periods in Italian Fascism's wars are discussed: the military participation on the Nationalist side in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), framed by the Fascist regime as a “holy war” against communism, and Nazi Germany's war against the Soviet Union (1941–1943). The chapter shows how Fascist propaganda depicted Italy's wartime enemies in a way that tapped into the deepest fears of many Italians and their feelings of uncertainty about issues such as family, morality, and the Church. Facing waning support and growing resistance, the regime found that terror and anxiety were more effective in forging a connection between it and the population than a defense of Fascism.Less
This chapter examines how the specter of a demonic Communist enemy came to occupy a central place in the Italian Fascist imaginary during the regime's mobilization of the politics of fear. Two critical periods in Italian Fascism's wars are discussed: the military participation on the Nationalist side in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), framed by the Fascist regime as a “holy war” against communism, and Nazi Germany's war against the Soviet Union (1941–1943). The chapter shows how Fascist propaganda depicted Italy's wartime enemies in a way that tapped into the deepest fears of many Italians and their feelings of uncertainty about issues such as family, morality, and the Church. Facing waning support and growing resistance, the regime found that terror and anxiety were more effective in forging a connection between it and the population than a defense of Fascism.
Paul Corner
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198730699
- eISBN:
- 9780191741753
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198730699.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
The chapter examines the formation of the fascist project. It illustrates the objectives of the fascist movement in the light of pre-First World War intellectual currents of both left and right, of ...
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The chapter examines the formation of the fascist project. It illustrates the objectives of the fascist movement in the light of pre-First World War intellectual currents of both left and right, of the experience of the war itself, and of problems of the immediate post-war. It discusses the utopian project of national transformation, to be realised through the transformation of Italians. While arguing that the project, in its utopian form, was bound to fail, the chapter does point to ways in which the aim of social transformation could have been at least partially implemented.Less
The chapter examines the formation of the fascist project. It illustrates the objectives of the fascist movement in the light of pre-First World War intellectual currents of both left and right, of the experience of the war itself, and of problems of the immediate post-war. It discusses the utopian project of national transformation, to be realised through the transformation of Italians. While arguing that the project, in its utopian form, was bound to fail, the chapter does point to ways in which the aim of social transformation could have been at least partially implemented.
John Pollard
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- December 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199208562
- eISBN:
- 9780191785580
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199208562.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies, Church History
After tracing the early life and career of Achille Ratti, this chapter considers the reasons for his surprise election as Pope Pius XI in the conclave of February 1922. It then identifies the ...
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After tracing the early life and career of Achille Ratti, this chapter considers the reasons for his surprise election as Pope Pius XI in the conclave of February 1922. It then identifies the characteristics of Pius XI’s government of the Universal Church, including the role of chief collaborators like Cardinal Gasparri and Jesuit Fr Ledóchowski. The major focus is on the relationship between Pius XI and Italy, examining Vatican responses to Mussolini’s rise to power and the negotiations which eventually led to the resolution of the ‘Roman Question’ in the Lateran Pacts of 1929. The significance of this conciliazione is analysed, especially the establishment of the Vatican State and the reordering of the papacy’s finances. The chapter then considers the relationship between Pius XI and Mussolini thereafter and the implications, for Pius XI’s policies elsewhere in the Church, of the pope’s experience of Italian Fascism.Less
After tracing the early life and career of Achille Ratti, this chapter considers the reasons for his surprise election as Pope Pius XI in the conclave of February 1922. It then identifies the characteristics of Pius XI’s government of the Universal Church, including the role of chief collaborators like Cardinal Gasparri and Jesuit Fr Ledóchowski. The major focus is on the relationship between Pius XI and Italy, examining Vatican responses to Mussolini’s rise to power and the negotiations which eventually led to the resolution of the ‘Roman Question’ in the Lateran Pacts of 1929. The significance of this conciliazione is analysed, especially the establishment of the Vatican State and the reordering of the papacy’s finances. The chapter then considers the relationship between Pius XI and Mussolini thereafter and the implications, for Pius XI’s policies elsewhere in the Church, of the pope’s experience of Italian Fascism.
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804763431
- eISBN:
- 9780804772556
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804763431.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
A consideration of the views expressed by the numerous intellectuals who contributed to four prominent Arabic-language cultural journals of the late 1930s—the monthlies al-Hilal and al-Majalla ...
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A consideration of the views expressed by the numerous intellectuals who contributed to four prominent Arabic-language cultural journals of the late 1930s—the monthlies al-Hilal and al-Majalla al-Jadida, the weeklies al-Risala and al-Thaqafa—offer the fullest understanding of the positions taken by Egypt's intellectual elite regarding the confrontation between liberal and authoritarian principles of political organization. This chapter considers both the more reflective analyses found in these journals of intellectual opinion and their commentaries on the world crisis as it unfolded over the later 1930s. It addresses how Egyptian intellectuals viewed the historical origins and the domestic characteristics of Italian Fascism and German Nazism, specifically their interpretations of the philosophical as well as the conjunctural roots of contemporary fascism, their evaluation of the merits and flaws found in democratic versus totalitarian forms of government, and their conclusions regarding the intellectual falsity and moral evil of Nazi racism.Less
A consideration of the views expressed by the numerous intellectuals who contributed to four prominent Arabic-language cultural journals of the late 1930s—the monthlies al-Hilal and al-Majalla al-Jadida, the weeklies al-Risala and al-Thaqafa—offer the fullest understanding of the positions taken by Egypt's intellectual elite regarding the confrontation between liberal and authoritarian principles of political organization. This chapter considers both the more reflective analyses found in these journals of intellectual opinion and their commentaries on the world crisis as it unfolded over the later 1930s. It addresses how Egyptian intellectuals viewed the historical origins and the domestic characteristics of Italian Fascism and German Nazism, specifically their interpretations of the philosophical as well as the conjunctural roots of contemporary fascism, their evaluation of the merits and flaws found in democratic versus totalitarian forms of government, and their conclusions regarding the intellectual falsity and moral evil of Nazi racism.
Catherine E. Paul
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781942954057
- eISBN:
- 9781781384053
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781942954057.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 20th Century Literature
In 1938, American poet Ezra Pound published Guide to Kulchur, a book so radically different from his earlier writing that readers might not have believed that it was written by the same firebrand ...
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In 1938, American poet Ezra Pound published Guide to Kulchur, a book so radically different from his earlier writing that readers might not have believed that it was written by the same firebrand aesthetician who had advocated in 1913 that poets go in fear of abstractions. But Guide to Kulchur was only the latest example of a new kind of prose that Pound had been writing—fiercely invested in politics and the mobilization of cultural heritage to its service. Pound’s new modernism came as a direct effect of his investment in fascism. Since the last monographic treatment of Pound’s fascism, scholars of literature, history, art history, urban design, and music have uncovered important aspects of the fascist regime’s use of culture to foment Italian national identity. These studies reveal the cultural, mythical, rhetorical, and intellectual aspects of that regime—more than enough new knowledge to require a reappraisal of perhaps the most famous, certainly the most notorious, American in Italy in that era, and perhaps the entire twentieth century. Unlike previous discussions of Pound’s adoption of Italian fascism, which focus mostly on his political and economic interests, this book reveals the importance of the cultural projects of Mussolini’s fascist regime. By bringing Italian primary sources and new approaches to the cultural project of Mussolini’s regime to bear on Pound’s prose work (including unpublished material from the Pound Papers and untranslated periodical contributions), Paul shows how Pound’s modernism changed as a result of involvement in Italian politics and culture. At the same time, it uses the familiar figure of Pound to provide an entry for scholars of Anglo-American modernism into the diverse and complex realm of Italian modernism.Less
In 1938, American poet Ezra Pound published Guide to Kulchur, a book so radically different from his earlier writing that readers might not have believed that it was written by the same firebrand aesthetician who had advocated in 1913 that poets go in fear of abstractions. But Guide to Kulchur was only the latest example of a new kind of prose that Pound had been writing—fiercely invested in politics and the mobilization of cultural heritage to its service. Pound’s new modernism came as a direct effect of his investment in fascism. Since the last monographic treatment of Pound’s fascism, scholars of literature, history, art history, urban design, and music have uncovered important aspects of the fascist regime’s use of culture to foment Italian national identity. These studies reveal the cultural, mythical, rhetorical, and intellectual aspects of that regime—more than enough new knowledge to require a reappraisal of perhaps the most famous, certainly the most notorious, American in Italy in that era, and perhaps the entire twentieth century. Unlike previous discussions of Pound’s adoption of Italian fascism, which focus mostly on his political and economic interests, this book reveals the importance of the cultural projects of Mussolini’s fascist regime. By bringing Italian primary sources and new approaches to the cultural project of Mussolini’s regime to bear on Pound’s prose work (including unpublished material from the Pound Papers and untranslated periodical contributions), Paul shows how Pound’s modernism changed as a result of involvement in Italian politics and culture. At the same time, it uses the familiar figure of Pound to provide an entry for scholars of Anglo-American modernism into the diverse and complex realm of Italian modernism.
Roxana Preda
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781942954408
- eISBN:
- 9781786944337
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781942954408.003.0024
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
The Eleven New Cantos could be considered a more serious and elaborate attempt on Pound’s part to produce a model of Vorticism in poetry, being arranged as a whirl of historical events and characters ...
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The Eleven New Cantos could be considered a more serious and elaborate attempt on Pound’s part to produce a model of Vorticism in poetry, being arranged as a whirl of historical events and characters around the still center of Canto 36, Pound’s translation of Cavalcanti’s Donna mi prega. The use of contrast between history writing and philosophical poetry, between capitalism and love is shown in the very construction of the cycle, which starts with the American presidents Adams and Jefferson in dialogue, continues with cantos dedicated to their descendants, John Quincy Adams and van Buren and ends with Mussolini. In the canto dedicated to van Buren, Pound created a synthesis of the three manifestoes in Blast, Lewis’s, Gaudier’s, and his own, to create a model vorticist poem. Stark journalistic style, the cultivation of contrast and simultaneity of voices, the counterpoint created by masses of text juxtaposed to one another are a few vorticist strategies that Pound uses in the canto to articulate and promote his critique of democracy.Less
The Eleven New Cantos could be considered a more serious and elaborate attempt on Pound’s part to produce a model of Vorticism in poetry, being arranged as a whirl of historical events and characters around the still center of Canto 36, Pound’s translation of Cavalcanti’s Donna mi prega. The use of contrast between history writing and philosophical poetry, between capitalism and love is shown in the very construction of the cycle, which starts with the American presidents Adams and Jefferson in dialogue, continues with cantos dedicated to their descendants, John Quincy Adams and van Buren and ends with Mussolini. In the canto dedicated to van Buren, Pound created a synthesis of the three manifestoes in Blast, Lewis’s, Gaudier’s, and his own, to create a model vorticist poem. Stark journalistic style, the cultivation of contrast and simultaneity of voices, the counterpoint created by masses of text juxtaposed to one another are a few vorticist strategies that Pound uses in the canto to articulate and promote his critique of democracy.
Bettina Reitz-Joosse
- Published in print:
- 2022
- Published Online:
- January 2022
- ISBN:
- 9780197610688
- eISBN:
- 9780197610718
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780197610688.003.0008
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
The Epilogue shines a spotlight on one particular moment in the reception of Roman constructions: the staging and representation of construction in Fascist Italy (1922–43). Ancient Roman ...
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The Epilogue shines a spotlight on one particular moment in the reception of Roman constructions: the staging and representation of construction in Fascist Italy (1922–43). Ancient Roman representations of construction have shaped modern conceptions of architecture and ‘Romanness’. Conversely, modern receptions of ancient Roman construction have influenced our image of what ancient construction looked and felt like. As an example, the Epilogue focuses on the transportation and erection of the marble obelisk on the Foro Mussolini (today’s Foro Italico). It considers representations of this process in film, photography, and mass media, but focuses especially on one consciously antiquarian mode of representation: a Fascist Latin text (the Codex fori Mussolini), composed in 1932, which contains a detailed account of the transportation and erection of the obelisk.Less
The Epilogue shines a spotlight on one particular moment in the reception of Roman constructions: the staging and representation of construction in Fascist Italy (1922–43). Ancient Roman representations of construction have shaped modern conceptions of architecture and ‘Romanness’. Conversely, modern receptions of ancient Roman construction have influenced our image of what ancient construction looked and felt like. As an example, the Epilogue focuses on the transportation and erection of the marble obelisk on the Foro Mussolini (today’s Foro Italico). It considers representations of this process in film, photography, and mass media, but focuses especially on one consciously antiquarian mode of representation: a Fascist Latin text (the Codex fori Mussolini), composed in 1932, which contains a detailed account of the transportation and erection of the obelisk.
Kent Su
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- May 2022
- ISBN:
- 9781949979800
- eISBN:
- 9781800852525
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781949979800.003.0008
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
Kent Su looks into The Cantos to examine how Pound’s reading of contemporary accounts of Chinese history from a Confucian perspective helped to shape his method for Cantos 52–61, the sequence known ...
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Kent Su looks into The Cantos to examine how Pound’s reading of contemporary accounts of Chinese history from a Confucian perspective helped to shape his method for Cantos 52–61, the sequence known as the Chinese Cantos or China Cantos. Following his own dictum in ABC of Reading, “DICHTEN = CONDENSARE” (which Su describes as a “principle of lean philosophical economy”), Pound in the 1930s used the approach of “condensing some historical facts” to capture the pith and gist of ancient Chinese history, an approach Pound also attributes to Mussolini. Readers know that for these Cantos Pound drew from the French text of Joseph-Anne-Marie de Moyriac de Mailla’s 11-volume Histoire générale de la Chine, but Su demonstrates how Pound also made significant use of the two Chinese texts that served as the basis for de Mailla’s Histoire, namely, Sima Guang’s Zizhi Tongjian and Zhu Xi’s Tongjian Gangmu, the latter a condensation of Guang’s 20-volume history. Su further contrasts the influences of Greek philosophy and Confucianism on Pound, as he offers analyses the complex cross-cultural sources of the China Cantos.Less
Kent Su looks into The Cantos to examine how Pound’s reading of contemporary accounts of Chinese history from a Confucian perspective helped to shape his method for Cantos 52–61, the sequence known as the Chinese Cantos or China Cantos. Following his own dictum in ABC of Reading, “DICHTEN = CONDENSARE” (which Su describes as a “principle of lean philosophical economy”), Pound in the 1930s used the approach of “condensing some historical facts” to capture the pith and gist of ancient Chinese history, an approach Pound also attributes to Mussolini. Readers know that for these Cantos Pound drew from the French text of Joseph-Anne-Marie de Moyriac de Mailla’s 11-volume Histoire générale de la Chine, but Su demonstrates how Pound also made significant use of the two Chinese texts that served as the basis for de Mailla’s Histoire, namely, Sima Guang’s Zizhi Tongjian and Zhu Xi’s Tongjian Gangmu, the latter a condensation of Guang’s 20-volume history. Su further contrasts the influences of Greek philosophy and Confucianism on Pound, as he offers analyses the complex cross-cultural sources of the China Cantos.
