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

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