The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts - UCLA Department ...

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da parte di un discorso politico "vile e mediocre", che nasconde dietro agli ideali democratici i propri interessi economici, lo disgusta, provocando una serie di affermazioni polemiche contro la"terzaRoma", e contro le lone di potere della nascente civild capitalistica. L'uomo politico contemporane
m DAPAWinter 1987 Michelangelo the painter of the Sistine Chapel and the sculptor of the prisoners and the Medici Tombs, and Verdi; but Garibaldi and other major and minor figures of the Risorgimento, who D'Annunzio saw as comparable to the condottieri of the sixteenth century also appeared in his pantheon. D'Annunzio's political and nationalistic rhetoric avails itself of theatrical and dramatic modes of expression sdch as hlperbole, repetition, and rhetorical questioning; it makes ample use of phonetic devices, and a liturgical style, rhythm, and tone, in order to facilitate the task of persuasion and to generate a performative effect. D'Annunzio's odes appeal to the listener to participate in a common ritual of regeneration and purification in the name of the sacred signs of the collective memory The arrangement of the exterior and "public" pan of the architectural complex of Il Vittoriale, and its allegorical articulation of space through the use of structures, artifacts, and works of art that function as sacred icons of the collective memory correspond to the same ideals that inform D'Annunzio's political poetry (figs. 8 and9). D'Annunzio made the idea of restoring the "original" body of the Italian nation, in its integrity and its beaury the fundamental theme of his new Renaissance, approximately two decades before Mussolini appropriated the idea and made it one of the principal instruments of his rise to power. The mythical body of Italy, represented-according to atopos or commonplace of patriotic poetry from Fetrarch to Carducci-as a figure of a woman whose beauty and virtue have been despoiled, mutilated, raped, and humiliated by the chains of foreign domination, had to be liberated and restored to its original integriry The liberation of Trent and Trieste from Austrian rule, which had been undertaken by Garibaldi but interrupted in 1865 by order of the Italian government with rhe sudden and inglorious end ofthe Third Var oflndependence, now had to be completed. Even the Carnaro (the Gulf of Istria), which Dante had designated as the eastern border of Italy, had to be restored to the body of the country In the final verses of Elema, the image of the holy body of Italy is thus prophetically assimilated to that of the '07inged Victory referring to the heroic sacrifice of the war of liberation to come: "Suddenly her tunic shines, and her hair flutters in the wind.../ \X,hs it not the Victory love ofAthens and Rome, the Nike, the holy virgin?/ ltalyl ltalyl /. . . Thus may you one day see the Latin sea be covered / with slaughter in your war" (Versi 11,409). And, years later, D'Annunzio made a cast of the Nike of Samothrace from the Louvre into the focus of the decorative composition of his study at Il Vinoriale (fig. 6). Merope, rhe collection of poems published originally in the newspaper Il Corriere della Seraberween 1911 and 791,2 on the occasion of the war between Italy and Turkey in Libya, begins with these same verses (that are dated 1899). D'Annunzio often used this kind of self-quotation in order to emphasize the unity of his work as a whole Merope is truly a work of propaganda, which is above all else designed to exalt the heroic actions of the Italian naly In it, aparallel is drawn between current events and the glorious deeds of the "Italian" tradition, e,g., of the Roman Empire as well. Ships and navigation are among D'Annunzio's favorite themes, and are charged for him with numerous metaphorical overtones. The entire epic-allegorical poem entitled "Laus Vitae" ("The Praise of Life") which forms the first book of Le l"audi (Maia), is based on rhe theme of navigation; this theme is iself summarized in the final lines of the texr, wirh the appearance of Fompey's motto (taken from Plutarch): "To navigate is necessary./ to live is not necessary" The motif of navigation in "Laus Vitae" refers specifically to the "mad flight" of Dante's Ulysses, which D Annunzio interprets as an heroic act of transgression and exploration that goes beyond all human limitations. Heroic navigation in the "LausVitae," however, above all represents es
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