Fascism, Aviation and Mythical Modernity PDF
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Fascism, Aviation and Mythical Modernity Fascism, Aviation and Mythical Modernity Fernando Esposito Universität Tübingen, Germany Translated by Patrick Camiller © Fernando Esposito 2015 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Originally published as Mythische Moderne. Aviatik, Faschismus und die Sehnsucht nach Ordnung in Deutschland und Italien, © 2011 by Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag GmbH, Munich English edition first published 2015 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-56065-3 ISBN 978-1-137-36299-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781137362995 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Typeset by MPS Limited, Chennai, India. The translation of this work was funded by Geisteswissenschaften International – Translation Funding for Humanities and Social Sciences from Germany, a joint initiative of the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, the German Federal Foreign Office, the collecting society VG WORT and the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (German Publishers & Booksellers Association). Contents List of Illustrations ix Preface xi Introduction 1 Aviation, fascism and the longing for order 2 Theoretical and methodological approach 6 Definition of the central analytical categories 11 Fascism 13 Fascism and modernity 20 Modernity 27 Myth 39 Fascism – a working definition 42 Structure of the work 45 Part I Longing for Order 1 Idea non vincit: Warburg and the Crisis of Liberal Modernity 49 Bourgeois, citizen of the world,Bildungsbürger 50 Why Athens has to be constantly won back from Alexandria 57 Disenchantment of the serpent 63 Idea vincitt, or the way out of the cave 68 2 Icarus Rising: D’Annunzio, the Flying Artificer of Myth 80 The war prophet of May 1915 82 Eia! Eia! Alalà! D’Annunzio the war hero 87 Anomie and political religion 102 Fiume and the sacralization of politics 106 3 Longing for Order – Summary 115 Part II Fractured Order 1 Don Quixote of the Air 123 Aerial acrobats or supermen – the Brescia air show 126 “The War for the Price of One Mark”: The promise of authenticity 139 Media workers and the everyday myths of warfare 159 2 Flying Swords and Mechanized Warfare 166 The social construction of the hero 169 The eyes of the army: a brief sketch of the air war 1914–1918 176 Birth of the aviator-hero from the “battle of materiel” 185 Overcoming stasis 187 The machine as instrument of power 190 vii viii Contents A knightly duel of man against man 196 “Elegant like at a dinner”: the hero’s glamorous life 203 3 Transitional Heroes and the Order of the Gemeinschaft 210 The aviator-hero and the unity of the wartime nation 212 “Total mobilization” and total solidarity 222 The aviator-hero and theVolksgemeinschaft 229 The figure of the aviatior-hero and the martial nobility of action 234 The “worker-soldier” and the age of the fourth estate 246 “I want to become a Boelcke!” The inscription of the hero on the community and the national life 260 4 Fractured Order – Summary 268 Part III Eternal Order 1 Volare!! The Fascist Take-off Towards Eternal Order 273 Jünger’s monumentalist remembrance of war and the beginnings of the future 275 The fascist awakening: abolishing history from the air 289 Aerovita: aerolife in a new future 305 The exhibition of myth: the Esposizione dell’aeronautica italiana 333 2 Fascism and Mythical Modernity 348 The centrality of palingenetic myth 354 Myth as a response to the crisis of reason 357 Myth as a response to the crisis of historicism 361 The aestheticization of politics in and through myth 366 The complementarity of myth and modernity 371 Bibliography 377 Index 413 List of Illustrations Introduction I.1 Chart of aviation discourse 10 Part I 1.1 Aby Warburg, sketch for the postage stamp Idea vincit: Warburg Institute Archive, London 71 1.2 Otto Heinrich Strohmeyer,Idea Vincitt, 1926: Harvard Art Museum, Fogg Art Museum, gift of Paul J. Sachs, M3027. Photo: Allan Macintyre © President and Fellows of Harvard College 71 2.1 Gabriele D’Annunzio, Vienna leaflet: Archivi del Vittoriale, Archivio iconografico, Gardone Riviera 101 Part II 1.1 D’Annunzio in airplane: Archivi del Vittoriale, Archivio iconografico, Gardone Riviera 134 1.2 Covers of war books published by Ullstein and Scherl publishing houses: Ullstein Verlag, Berlin and August Scherl Verlag, Berlin 152 2.1 Das fliegende Schwert: published by Verlag des Deutschen Offizierblattes, Oldenburg 168 2.2 Publicity issued by the aircraft producer Fokker in 1916: from Deutsche Luftfahrerzeitschriftt, No. 21/22, November 22, 1916, p. 336 193 3.1 Poster proclaiming “Durch Arbeit zum Sieg! Durch Sieg zum Frieden!” (Through Work to Victory! Through Victory to Peace!), Alexander M. Cay, 1918 248 3.2 The funeral procession for Oswald Boelcke: Vogel & Vogel Verlag, Leipzig 263 Part III 1.1 War literature published in Germany: numbers of titles per year 279 1.2 Giacomo Balla’s Balbo e I transvolatori (1931): Museo Storico dell’Aeronautica; Tullio Crali,Incuneandosi nell’abitato (In tuffo sulla città)(1939): Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto (Mart), Rovereto 328 ix
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