Fascist Virilities: Rhetoric, Ideology, and Social Fantasy in Italy - Softcover

Spackman, Barbara

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0816627878 ISBN 13: 9780816627875

Publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press, 2008

Synopsis

Fascist Virilities exposes the relation between rhetoric and ideology. Barbara Spackman looks at Italian fascism as a matter of discourse, with "virility" as the master code that articulates and melds its disparate elements. In her analysis, rhetoric binds together the elements of ideology, with "virility" as the key. To reveal how this works, Spackman traces the circulation of "virility" in the discourse of the Italian regime and in the rhetorical practices of Mussolini himself. She tracks the appearance of virility in two of the sources of fascist rhetoric, Gabriele D'Annunzio and F.T. Marinetti, in the writings of the futurist Valentine de Saint Point and the fascist feminist Teresa Labriola, and in the speeches of Mussolini. A critical and timely contribution to the current reappraisal of fascist ideology, this book will interest anyone concerned with the relations between gender, sexuality, and fascist discourse.

About this title

Synopsis:

Exploring different conceptions of virility - as well as the reproductive fantasies they produce - in a selection of Italian political manifestos and political writings, this study exposes the relation between fascist rhetoric and ideology.

About the Author:

Barbara Spackman is associate professor of Italian at New York University.

About this edition

• Publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0816627878
• ISBN 13: 9780816627875
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208