The Search for Modern Tragedy: Aesthetic Fascism in Italy and FranceThe attempt to apply an aesthetic or literary approach to fascism remains controversial. In The Search for Modern Tragedy, Mary Ann Frese Witt explores the work of a group of European writers and artists who came to fascism by way of aesthetics. In Italy and France, she maintains, an ideological aesthetic of "Mediterranean" fascism developed to a large extent independently of German Nazism. Witt's study of the relationship between fascism and modern tragedy encompasses theoretical writing on tragedy and tragedies by key authors, including Luigi Pirandello, Henry de Montherlant, and Jean Anouilh. She looks at these tragedies in the context of their reception under fascism in Italy and in Vichy France. Fascism, in the minds of many of its supporters, was an aesthetic or spiritual movement, although its aesthetic and political elements were often intertwined. The Search for Modern Tragedy is not concerned primarily with drama written as a means of conveying fascist propaganda. Rather, Witt is concerned with the influence of aesthetic fascism on the theory and practice of modern tragedy. |
Common terms and phrases
aesthetic fascism ancient Anouilh Antigone Apollonian argues attempt audience Basiliola Bérénice Birth of Tragedy bourgeois calls characters Charlotte Corday Chef Christian cism classical collaborationist contemporary Corneille Corneille's Corrado create creation Créon critics crowd culture Dead City death decadence destiny Dionysian discourse drama Drieu La Rochelle Duce essay eternal fascist ideology father Fedra française France French fascism fusing fusion Gabriele D'Annunzio German grandeur Henry Henry de Montherlant heroic Hitler human ideal imperialism Italian Italy Jean Jean Anouilh literary Luigi Pirandello Marta Abba mass Maulnier Maurras mediocrity Mediterranean modern tragedy Montherlant Montherlant's Morasso mother Mussolini myth nation Nietzsche Nietzsche's Paris Pierre Drieu play poet poetic poetry political Press propaganda purity Racine realist religion represented revolution ritual Robert Brasillach role Roman Rome sacrifice seems sense social spectacle spiritual stage Sternhell teatro theater Théâtre theatrical Thierry Maulnier tion tragic hero trans Vichy violence virile woman women words writing
References to this book
The Invention of Politics in the European Avant-garde (1906-1940) Sascha Bru,Gunther Martens No preview available - 2006 |