Suchergebnisse

Oratie uitgesproken ter gelegenheid van de aanvaarding van het ambt van bijzonder hoogleraar 'Administrative Governance in the EU' aan de Faculteit der Cultuur- en Maatschappijwetenschappen van de Universiteit Maastricht

Frédéric Mistral is the only figure in the Felibrige to have devoted a significant portion of his oeuvre to the Middle Ages. This essay offers a new reading of his two works situated in the Middle Ages – the romance Nerto (1884), and the drama La Rèino Jano (Queen Joanna) (1890). It argues that as a belated Romantic, Mistral repudiates the evils of modernity. His medievalism reflects and gives voice to his own political vision whereby the contemporary situation is displaced into a wish-fulfillment fourteenth century, in which France is conspicuous by its absence.

Registri utopistici della New Italian Epic. Wu Ming e l'atto socialmente simbolicoWu Ming, un collettivo di scrittori fondato nel 2000, cerca di promuovere l'impegno collettivo e la rivoluzione sociale attraverso una 'mitopoiesi di base'. Costruendo miti che riflettono i problemi e le contraddizioni dell'attuale società italiana, Wu Ming crea una coscienza unificatrice attraverso un'esperienza e un'identità condivise. Creando nuovi eroi popolari, interrogando la storia e resistendo alle visioni dominanti del sistema sociale, Wu Ming si impegna dunque in una mitopoiesi della resistenza politica. L'opera di scrittura politica e di mitopoiesi del gruppo produce quella che Jameson definisce un 'atto socialmente simbolico'. In The Political Unconscious Jameson suggerisce che tutta la letteratura debba essere letta come 'una meditazione simbolica sul destino di una comunità', e che la forma narrativa e simbolica inventa 'soluzioni' immaginarie a contraddizioni sociali. Basandosi sulla prospettiva marxista di Jameson, il presente contributo analizza un racconto di Wu Ming, 'I trecento boscaioli dell'imperatore'. Attraverso questa storia, e con una più ampia analisi dell'operato di Wu Ming, si sostiene che questa culmini in un atto socialmente simbolico. Le storie create da Wu Ming riflettono sul destino dell'oppressa comunità italiana che il collettivo di scrittori rappresenta, rendendo possibile una 'compensazione utopica' all'interno dei confini narrativi.

Examples of Cultural Anti-Semitism in Umberto Eco's Novel Il cimitero di PragaThe article draws upon Umberto Eco's recent novel, Il cimitero di Praga, in the consideration of the relationship between narrative fiction and the collective imagination in regards to the genesis and dispersion of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion in the second half of the nineteenth century. A dangerous and mysterious text, The Protocols evoked general clamor and persecutory backlash, as it appeared to document the existence of a Judeo-Masonic conspiracy.In the work, the author also reconstructs sources of the fictional text and traces the historical, political and editorial events surrounding it, plunging into them with a gritty and irreverent realism in a chronicle of the obsession that flowed into the madness of the Shoah.Treating the subject, which is found elsewhere in the scholar's oeuvre, requires mention of the repertoire of prejudicial accusations against the Jews throughout history, which creates, toward the end of the book, a heated and contentious debate regarding whether such delicate and reckless statements should even be made public at all. This article questions the authorial strategy in Il cimitero di Praga, and considers the novel's literary agenda, which can be almost interpreted as a call for vigilance against manifestations of anti-Semitism still present in today's cultural imagination.

Petrarch between Literature and Political Power Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) was not only an outstanding poet and scholar of his age, but also an interesting example of a public intellectual ante litteram, at least he appears to be so from the writings he left to posterity. His works in Latin, in particular, provide a strong critical commentary on the political issues of his time and about civilisation and history in general. Petrarch loved to live close to the centers of power and to maintain good relationships with influential political personalities; nevertheless, he managed to avoid getting involved in practical political activity or being recruited as a secretary or courtier. Despite not being of noble birth, he succeeded in being accepted into the most prestigious social circles and, at the same time, maintained sufficient independence and freedom to dedicate his time to literature. In his works he tried to impose ancient Rome as a social model and Roman heroes as exemplars of individual qualities; he also tried to convince the political powers (especially the Italian maritime republics and the Roman Emperor) to re-establish Italian dominance, to as great an extent as possible, within the borders of the Roman Empire. Petrarch sought to quell the violence of Italian political life and restore the papacy to Rome, with the aim of opposing French power in Europe.

Dans cet essai, je propose une nouvelle approche sensorielle de la littérature. La littérature peut être étudiée afin de tracer les effets sur les sens de certaines transformations culturelles, politiques et technologiques. D'abord je développe une méthode historisante qui décrit les pratiques et discours sensoriels d'une époque donnée et qui analyse leur appropriation dans la littérature contemporaine. Ensuite, je démontre la richesse de cette approche en prenant le surréalisme comme étude de cas et en me concentrant sur le rôle du toucher dans les œuvres de Benjamin Péret. Les remarques de conclusion servent à esquisser les nouvelles pistes que suggère cette approche sensorielle pour la recherche littéraire.

Luciana Littizzetto, postfeminism, and the dangerous art of playing the foolThe goal of this paper is to study the performative strategies by which the comic persona of Luciana Littizzetto deconstructs post-patriarchal representations of femininity and womanhood in contemporary Italian popular culture. I argue that Littizzetto's character(s) (on television and in films) engages in a 'postfeminist' critique of the system of sex and power, in which many women have recently found their fortune, and that is primarily embodied by the showgirls and/or female politicians supported by the ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. By positioning herself as the woman who is excluded from the circle of power to which other (beautiful and attractive) women have access, Littizzetto's character(s) unveils the contradictions that embed 'postfeminist' models of female emancipation, blessed (or cursed) by the archaic power of beauty, as well as empowered by sexual liberation. I will purposefully use the attribute 'postfeminist' to describe both the comic subject and the female 'White Clowns' in Littizzetto's comic performance. In this way, I hope to highlight the complexity of the attribute itself, rather than using the term as a fixed category of analysis. In my view, 'postfeminism' indicates both continuities between contemporary practices of female emancipation and second wave feminism, as well as a dismissal. In my essay, I will show that Littizzetto's comic act does not aim at denigrating the 'other' woman and lacks the underlining moralistic attitude of other critical voices, such as Lorella Zanardo and her Il corpo delle donne. Rather, it is crafted against a 'queen' whose power is not denied but rather acknowledged and therefore naked. By physical gestures and verbal expressions, her living and acting persona ultimately exposes the masquerade of femininity, both her own and that of others.

Vivo con Domenica GhideiBiidu e Elisabetta Hagos nel 2009. In quanto componentidella diaspora eritrea in Europa, Ghidei Biidu e Hagos contribuiscono con questa intervista alla memoria della dominazione coloniale italiana nel Corno d'Africa sullabase del patrimonio di conoscenze che entrambe hanno ereditato dalle propriefamiglie.L'intervista si sviluppa lungo delle line di analisi e riflessione che rendono con efficacia l'importanza della dimensione di genere nel movimento nazionalista eritreoe nelle migrazioni di tipo postcoloniale e diasporico, così come nel processo dimemorizzazione che le ha accompagnate. S'illustrano inoltre la dimensione culturalee quella simbolica della relazione attuale fra popolazioni ex colonizzate ed excolonizzatrici. Infine, quest'intervista rappresenta un contributo originale nell'ottica del 'fare storia' rispetto al ruolo particolare che hanno avuto le donne eritree nei periodi di transizione politica e nelle connessioni fra Eritrea, Etiopia e Italia.

Spiritual Imperialism at the Base of AugusteaThe study of Fascism's program of 'cultural expansion abroad' ('espansione culturale all'estero') must acknowledge the fundamental role played by the journal Augustea, founded in 1925 by Franco Ciarlantini, a prominent editor of the Fascist PNF. Working on the project were, among others, Massimo Bontempelli, Emilio Bodrero, and Arrigo Solmi. The journal combined 'politics, economics, art', and advocated the unity and power of an Italy that would finally be cohesive, and, as such, able to impose itself on the world stage. Power meant expansion in many senses: economically, politically, in regards to the military, but especially in terms of the ideal, artistic, and spiritual. According to the magazine, one needed to replace Italy as a leader of nations by highlighting its cultural supremacy, which dated back to Rome and its empire, and that had been preserved in the following centuries. The Italian cultural hegemony, at the service of foreign policy, was in fact seen as the path to empire, which was seen to require the support of intellectuals, artists, and journalists. The agenda in this way bound itself to the totalitarian project of Fascism; on the one hand there was an internal conquest, a Fascistization, of the new Italian identity designed by Mussolini, and on the other hand an external conquest consisting of a spiritual imperialism, positing Italian society as the natural leader among nations. Culture, in this way, was seen as the medium of both aspects of the conquest.

Dante in the straightjacket of the italian State In this article Dante's literary and cultural reception are interpreted as being also indicative of the strength of Italy's sociopolitical unity. From the beginning of the eighteenth century Dante and his poem have been used and misused repeatedly by cultural, literary and political key figures in order to forge and reinforce a national Dante. During Risorgimento Dante soon became the symbol of Italy's political, moral and linguistic unity but he was also used, more implicitly, as a powerful antidote to the country's disunity. After a period of more liberal and creative rewritings, the fascist regime and its scholars came up with an extremely reductive political and moral image of the Commedia and its poet. After the end of the second World War this fascist Dante was banned from national conscience and replaced with a myriad of creative rewritings. Poets like Eugenio Montale and Mario Luzi rediscovered and exploited Dante's forgotten potential for Italian culture and literature; the work of important directors like Federico Fellini and Pier Paolo Pasolini could not exist without Dante; the venerable Lectura Dantis tradition was revived on television by famous actors and ultimately modernised and lightened by Roberto Benigni whose television performances also revive Dante's role as a national and unifying symbol.

Een van de grote projecten uit de derde architectuurnota is gewijd aan de revisie van de openbare ruimte. Zoals alle grote projecten is ook dit project door een van de aan de architectuurnota deelnemende ministeries 'geadopteerd'. In dit geval was dat het Ministerie van VROM. Op 13 juni presenteerde staatssecretaris Remkes het 'Pleidooi voor de openbare ruimte', waarin de nieuwe politieke ambities zijn neergelegd. Aan het project werd ook deelgenomen vanuit het cultuurbeleid. Met welk engagement mengde de cultuur zich in het debat?

The Tomb of Julius II. Glory DeniedThis article analyzes the history of Michelangelo Buonarroti's Tomb of Julius II from the unusual point of view of the artist, rather than from the perspective of the difficulties entailed in its creation, making use of the topic's abundant documentary tradition. Commissioned by Pope della Rovere in 1505 with the aim of creating a mausoleum in the style of antiquity, work was interrupted at the behest of della Rovere himself shortly after it began. Upon the death of the pope, work was recommenced by his heirs in 1513 and continued until 1545. After this, the popes of the sixteenth century either did their best to slow down the work or went as far as to hinder its execution, with the notable exception of Adrian VI. Both the two Medici popes − Leo X and Clement VII − and Paul III Farnese, wishing to link their names with that of Michelangelo, commissioned him to undertake great tasks: the Medici Tombs, the Last Judgement and the Cappella Paolina. These popes viewed the realization of their own commissions as more important than work on the monument to Julius II; in fact, they prevented Michelangelo from fulfilling his contractual commitments with the della Rovere by issuing special papal briefs, albeit in agreement with Michelangelo. The fate of the monument of Julius II unequivocally testifies to Michelangelo's standing and exceptional achievement: the artist was already revered as a great master by his contemporaries and attracted patrons who swarmed around him, wishing their own glory to be celebrated only by his art. This was not only true for the Medici and Farnese popes but also for the della Rovere, who would not abandon their mission of having the monument executed by Michelangelo, to the point where they would rather wait decades for him than see it completed by any other artist. This story of the monument, which is itself the protagonist, reflects the Renaissance as a whole − in the broadest sense of the political, social and cultural development of the entire era − with all the contrast of its lights and shadows.

Umiliazione e amore: Villaggio, Benigni e la politica culturale delle emozioniLa forte dicotomia emotiva fra eroismo e codardia ha svolto un ruolo importante nella costruzione ed evoluzione dell'identità nazionale italiana. Questo articolo considera le opere più influenti di Paolo Villaggio e Roberto Benigni, e il loro ruolo nello sviluppo di una alternativa emotiva a tale dicotomia. I loro film si concentrano principalmente su una singola emozione: l'umiliazione nel caso di Villaggio, e l'amore nel caso di Benigni. È attraverso questa attenzione ad una singola emozione che questi autori e interpreti sono riusciti a costruire dei personaggi che, pur tipicamente italiani, non possono essere facilmente ricondotti né alla categoria dell'eroe né a quella del codardo. L'articolo sostiene l'importanza politica di questa alternativa emotiva, e nota come il suo progressivo indebolimento sia coinciso con l'incapacità della sinistra italiana di elaborare una risposta efficace alle politiche fortemente emotive di Berlusconi. L'articolo dimostra l'importanza di studiare i complessi rapporti fra comicità, emozioni e politica nella storia culturale e politica italiana.

Political leadership in Italy in the light of the national comical traditionThis essay deals with humour and satire in politics. The issue of humour is contextualized within a wider cultural phenomenon called 'show civilisation' or 'schermopolis', i.e. the pervasiveness of screens in our everyday life. In doing so I will consider the role of new media and social networks in fostering the use of humour in political discourse. Next I will try to find a new framework for forms of popularity in politics by adapting to the current conjuncture the definitions given by Eric Landowsky at the end of the 1980s. Nowadays the politician-vedette is indeed the most popular form within the show civilisation phenomenon mentioned above. I will demonstrate that some Italian versions of this figure seem inspired by a rich Italian Comedy tradition. Finally, I will propose a number of hypotheses about the ways in which leaders obtain electoral consensus, for example through physical attractiveness, sympathy, and their ability to amuse people. In this perspective, a leader who is good for a laugh seems automatically a good leader.

The Cognition of Discourse. Gadda and the Metaphor of Fascist VirilityIn the political analysis of the work of the Milanese writer Carlo Emilio Gadda, there is a big controversy about the fascist or antifascist status of his ideas. For a long time, Gadda has been considered an antifascist icon, who with works as Eros e Priapo and Quer Pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana strongly and violently criticised the regime of Mussolini. Influenced by the discovery of the scritti tecnici in the early seventies, however, many scientists have also started to stress Gadda's fascist adhesion. The propagandistic and scientific character of the articles made scholars focus on non-literary arguments to define Gadda's position toward fascism, like his psychology, his Milanese background, his ideology. Ultimately however, scientists like Cristina Savettieri and Riccardo Stracuzzi have stressed the importance of a strictly literary reading of the discourse in Gadda's work in order to get a view of its political value. On the other hand, studies of fascism stress the importance of discourse, metaphor in the construction of the national character, virility, supported by fascism. This character was created by family metaphors. We should investigate in which way Gadda treats these metaphors. Did he understand the discursive character of fascism? Did he use this knowledge in order to parody and criticize it? In La cognizione del dolore both nation and family are central. By consequence, it is an excellent work to investigate the appearance of fascist metaphors in it.