Gabriele D'Annunzio and the Aestheticization of Politics in Italy
Gabriele D'Annunzio had a huge influence not only on all Italian poetry of the 20th century and was known not only as a writer, but also as a politician and warrior, who became an integral part of the Italian heroic image during the First World War and the interwar period. D'Annunzio's popularity in Italy was so huge that he, the only poet after Dante, is called with a capital letter and a definite article - Il Poeta.
D'Annunzio has been the subject of numerous works in various languages, but only one biography of the poet has been published in Russian – Elena Schwartz's book "Gabriele D'Annunzio. The Winged Cyclops", which is full of inaccuracies. It is also worth noting that in December, the Totenburg publishing house is preparing to release a translation of a rather interesting book by Michael Ledin, "The First Duce: D'Annunzio in Fiume", which examines in detail the Fiuman period of the poet-warrior's biography and his attempt to create a "guiding star" for the entire world from the Republic of Fiume.
Gabriele D'Annunzio's vision of life and politics, considered largely aesthetic and spiritual by his contemporaries, continues to be the subject of various interpretations. The Republic of Fiume was undoubtedly his political masterpiece, but different researchers evaluate this period differently: some emphasize his creative talent, libertarian lifestyle, radical and even anti-fascist views, while others delve into the darker sides of his personality, perceiving him as a supporter of radical nationalism and imperialism, as a person who had a great influence on fascism.
D'Annunzio strove to aestheticize politics, strove to make it an art - hence the symbolic texts he pronounced from the balcony, which were a kind of political ritual, the use of religious symbols in a secular context, etc.
Elites and Masses in D'Annunzio's Early Works
D'Annunzio's political activity is generally considered to have begun after the end of World War I, when he became a leading supporter of the nationalist movement and one of the major figures on the Italian political scene. However, recent historical Research has not only revealed his earlier political experience in the pre-war liberal period, but also emphasized the ideological character of his early works. D'Annunzio's decadentism was not simply a literary movement, but rather a means of expressing his entire worldview. The aestheticization of politics, closely linked to populism, is the core of D'Annunzio's ideological concept, and not just a superficial and "spectacular" wrapper [1].
The early decadent phase of D'Annunzio's work is characterized by an aristocratic elitism, manifested in the glorification of the military and a pronounced aversion to mass society. For D'Annunzio, the main problem was liberal society as a whole, consisting of a weak and corrupt ruling elite incapable of elevating Italy, and a common people, predominantly urban, lacking moral fortitude. In some of his early works, he extolled the army as the sole source of greatness, declaring that the masses could only be subordinated to military institutions.[1]
However, his views later changed somewhat. In the early 1900s, his disdain for the “plebs” developed into a paternal concern for the oppressed, whom he began to portray as innocent victims of the liberal elite. For D’Annunzio, there was now “a hidden beauty in the crowd” that only a poet-prophet could express and translate into political language. In his words, "The poet's word addressed to the crowd is an action akin to the hero's gesture"In these speeches, as literary scholar Pappalardo put it:
“D’Annunzio’s populism passes its first test: the idealization of the lower classes (in which his tendency to depict reality and life as a reflection of art again appears) will lead to a new view of Italian society, to the exaltation of the popular aspect of the Risorgimento and, consequently, to a rethinking of national identity itself”[3].
As the Italian historian Enrico Longhi notes, the new fusion of elitism and populism gave birth to a new artistic approach. D'Annunzio "discovered" the pedagogical and psychological effectiveness of the theatre, its remarkable potential to influence people. Thus, his literary work evolved to include dramatic and theatrical structures, with increased attention to characters from the lower classes of society [1].
During this theatrical period, characterized by what can be described as aesthetic populism, D'Annunzio constantly appealed to the mythical idea of the "Latin people", which was no longer guilty of social decline, but rather was forced to exist anonymously in a democratic society. In D'Annunzio's rhetoric, the people began to acquire more concrete characteristics, and the peasantry was singled out as a truly "healthy race, strengthened by the sun's rays and purified by the winds".
The Significance of the First World War in D'Annunzio's Worldview
Enrico Longhi notes that the imperialist nature of D'Annunzio's populism became evident during the Libyan War (Italo-Turkish War 1911-12). The outbreak of war with Turkey in 1911 served as a catalyst for the growth of all nationalist movements in Italy - even poets such as Giovanni Pascoli, who supported socialism, spoke out and wrote in defense of Italy's interests [1].
Indicative in this regard is D'Annunzio's "Canzone de Dardanelli" - in the song Italy was presented as a stronghold against the "Turkish barbarians", while simultaneously defending its interests against the European hegemons, especially the British Empire and Germany. In this same canzone a new stylistic device of appealing to Christianity appears, and direct parallels are made with the Crusades [4].
Compared to other nationalists, D'Annunzio's ideas were paradoxically universal – they were recognized not only in the religious but also in the aesthetic spheres, positioning themselves as eternal rather than historically specific. The poet's goal was not to defend and expand traditional values and institutions, but to propose a new and modern sacred connection between war and nation, which was seen as a means of liberating people from their moral suffering [1].
D'Annunzio believed that war was the only way to restore Italy's greatness, which is why he actively supported Italy's entry into World War I. Military service was the best way to promote the spiritual upliftment of the people, bypassing the mediating role of representative bodies and political parties. In 1914-15, D'Annunzio became one of the key figures in the interventionist movement that ultimately led Italy to World War I.
D'Annunzio did not simply make appeals and build political theories - he was ready to serve as an example for Italians to inspire them to heroic deeds. He took an active part in the First World War, becoming famous for his participation in dangerous and reckless air and naval operations, receiving many wounds and creating a myth about heroes and martyrs.
Those military hierarchs and politicians who helped him, seeing in him a man capable of heroizing military actions and resisting pacifist tendencies, underestimated the poet - D'Annunzio did not intend to limit himself to moral support on the domestic and international fronts, but rather sought to ensure that a new world order would be formed during the war.
However, nothing of the sort happened, and so the outcome of the war disappointed D'Annunzio, who had dreamed of a very different Italy after the war. In the article "The Prayer of Sernaglia", written on October 24, 1918, he expressed all his anger at the mutilated victory, coining a slogan that became popular among irredentists:
"Our victory, you will not be maimed! No one will break your knees, no one will cut off your wings! Where to step? Where to go?"[5].
The furious attacks on the peace talks in Paris, which had not recognised all of Italy's territorial claims, had not only diplomatic consequences. They were also accompanied by strong opposition to demobilisation, which, according to D'Annunzio, would eventually lead to the restoration of pre-war liberal society.
For D'Annunzio, war was a means to the exaltation of the people, as it preached the cult of the nation and the importance of ultimate self-sacrifice. After the end of the Great War (World War I), he sought to rethink war as an integral part of civil society, seeking to overthrow the liberal system.
On May 5, 1919, during a speech in Rome, D'Annunzio emphasized the need for an imperialist mission on the eastern borders. He tasted "the bread of Fiume, which was brought especially for me from Trieste and further to Venice" and felt ready to "multiply this bread, truly soaked in sweat and blood!"
The blood of the martyrs, spilled during the war, mixed with the sacred soil of the homeland, giving birth to a new "noble people" that was to become the main protagonist in the establishment of a new political order. Thus, in his opinion, a national revolution was to take place, which would be created by the participants in the war.
The Proclamation of Fiume as an Attempt at Revolution
The Republic of Fiume, called the City of Life and the Republic of Beauty, is often considered a work of art. And its creator was, of course, D'Annunzio. On September 12, 1919, together with 2500 soldiers, he entered Fiume in a red Fiat, greeted by the applause of the local population. This triumphant peaceful "capture" of the city was called the "Sacred Entry". Exactly one year later, D'Annunzio declared Fiume an independent republic, "liberated" from the power of the Italian state and from foreign intervention [2].
The poet saw Fiume as a symbol of the triumph of the new “noble men” over the old democratic world. The instruments for supporting the “noble people” were varied: the glorification of the legionaries, who were to serve as the prototype of the new Italians; the praise of disobedience, understood as a complete rejection of liberal democratic norms; a satirical depiction of the liberal ruling classes; a plebiscitary relationship with the citizens of Fiume, which was seen as a microcosm of the Italians as a whole.
Public ceremonies involving legionnaires gradually became more frequent, taking the form of patriotic rituals, and D'Annunzio maintained constant contact with the people of Fiume through public speeches from the balcony of the Governor's Palace and numerous parades and performances.
Many of D'Annunzio's slogans, formed in his artistic texts and used by him later to support the spirit of the Republic of Fiume, contain Latinisms and refer to Roman culture: Donec ad metam ("To head towards the goal"), Et ventis adversis ("Even against headwinds"), Dant vulnera formam ("Wounds give form"), etc. [2].
D'Annunzio also uses vivid visual images: having declared Fiume a "liberated city", D'Annunzio raises above it the emblem of the new "Republic of Beauty" - a flag depicting the constellation Ursa Major on a purple background, ringed by an ouroboros - a snake biting its own tail. All the elements of the flag are semantically loaded: the image of the ouroboros symbolizes immortality, going back to the Egyptian tradition, the seven stars refer to the image of the seven legionaries who refused to obey the order of the Italian government and remained on D'Annunzio's side at Ronchi, swearing: "Fiume or death!", and the motto depicted on the flag Quis contra nos (Who can be against us?) refers to the saying of St. Paul in his letter to the Romans: "If God is with us, who can be against us?"[2].
D'Annunzio's speeches are full of pathos and references to various texts (including religious ones). The manifesto "With me", delivered by D'Annunzio as a speech from the balcony of the government building in Fiume, in which he proposes to rebel against the League of Nations, clearly confirms this:
"Our League of Fiume will confront the League of Nations; our beam of pure energy will confront the conspiracy of thieves and privileged swindlers. This is our faith. This is our cause... Whoever is not with me is against me. Whoever is not with us is against us... We have only one heart, one courage, one covenant, with me, shoulder to shoulder, elbow to elbow, as if you were linked in a chain to raise your dazzling songs to the sun and the stars, with me, comrades, with me, comrade, with me, to the last goal, to death and beyond!"[2].
Thus, D'Annunzio's populism had a distinctly revolutionary character, a clear proof of which is the Charter of Carnaro (Fiume Constitution) - a unique document co-authored with Alceste De Ambris. The Charter of Carnaro is based on the aesthetic ideals and ideas of its creators about a just, harmonious and popular state system, as well as the ideas of the advanced socio-political trends of the early 20th century.
D'Annunzio certainly contributed to the aestheticization of politics in Italy, which Mussolini later took advantage of by adopting many of the political rituals that had originated in Fiume, but the poet failed to achieve the revolution he had dreamed of. D'Annunzio's spiritual populism was later supplanted by a more sophisticated form of state dictatorship, which was ready to use his rhetoric and rituals, but this time to create a totalitarian state.
References
[1]. Enrico Serventi Longhi, “The Triumph of the Noble People: Gabriele D'Annunzio and Populism between literature and politics” in: “QUALESTORIA. Rivista di storia contemporanea. XLVIII, N.ro 2, Dicembre 2020", EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste, Trieste, 2020, pp. 201-213.
[2]. Sokolova O.V. The Republic of Fiume: between an aesthetic campaign and a political work of art. // Communicative Studies. 2018. No. 3. P. 155 – 171.
[3]. F. Pappalardo, Popolo nazione stirpe: la retorica civile di Gabriele d'Annunzio (1888-1915), Pietro Lacaita, Manduria 2016, p. 76.
[4]. Evdokimova T. V., Gudkov M. F. Gabriele D'Annunzio: poet-dictator. Student electronic journal "Strizh". No. 2 (43). May 13, 2022.
[5]. Härmänmaa M. “Io, ultimo figlio degli Elleni.” La grecità impura di Gabriele D'Annunzio // Recensioni. 2011. P. 138–140.
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