Money and modernism: The rise of a theme in early 20th-century Italy

The primary purpose of this article is to examine how the theme of money developed in the work of the key early 20th-century Italian modernist writers Giovanni Papini, Aldo Palazzeschi, Giovanni Boine, and Carlo Michelstaedter. It also studies the connection between the theme of money and two central concepts in modernist literature: the crisis in the concept of objectivity, and the interpretation of reality as a continuous flow that rejects every possible conceptualization. I argue that money was a metaphor for the crisis of objective truth, a symbol for an existence that had lost all perspective from which to judge and order reality.

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Heroischer Fatalismus

Volume 60 · 2019 - Literaturwissenschaftliches Jahrbuch ◽

10.3790/ljb.60.1.317 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 60 (1) ◽

pp. 317-338

Author(s):

Nicolas Detering

Keyword(s):

20Th Century ◽

German Literature ◽

Early 20Th Century ◽

Modernist Literature

The article re-evaluates the notion of heroic agency by arguing that many instances of heroism in early 20th century German literature rely not on great deeds, but on images of fatalist persistence. After a discussion of the conceptual elements and traditions of heroic persistence, the essay surveys variants of its semanticization between Nietzsche’s amor fati and German exile narrations of the 1940s. The perusal shows that ›heroic attentism‹ in modernist literature is less dependent on the respective political affiliations of the authors, but rather on the concept’s ability to adapt to discursive trends and remain applicable to different historical experiences.

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Genesis of the Archetype of the Trickster in Russian Literature

ICONI ◽

10.33779/2658-4824.2021.2.059-074 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 59-74

Author(s):

Svetlana P. Shlykova ◽

Keyword(s):

20Th Century ◽

19Th Century ◽

18Th Century ◽

Russian Literature ◽

Early 20Th Century ◽

Modernist Literature ◽

World Culture ◽

Russian Culture ◽

The 19Th Century ◽

Folk Tradition

The article is devoted to demonstrating the genesis of the archetype of the trickster in Russian literature. The antihero, the sources of whose anti-behavior are traced in harlequinade and skmorokh buffoonery, is examined on the material of folklore and literary works from the 18th to the early 20th century. Anti-behavior in Russian culture symbolizes a rebellion unrefl exed in the folk environment against the norms of behavior and orderliness of life imposed by those in power. The archetype of the trickster, which has longtime traditions in world culture, was personifi ed in Russia as the skomorokh, then the jester Farnos, who in many ways adopted the skomorokh traditions. Among the populace Petrukha Fornos became one of the favorite comic jester heroes, having acquired special popularity as the result of crude color woodcuts from the 18th century. In the 19th century the image of Farnos was transformed into Petrushka, a puppet character of the theatricalized genre. With his assistance the simplistic satirical subjects lay at the foundation of the so-called Petrushka theater which, despite the unaltered plot, bore an improvisational-play character, pertaining to a number of “baculine” comedies, in the 19th century the image of Petrushka was so popular, that it surpassed the oral folk tradition and found its place in literary compositions. In the early 20th century the image of Petrushka the trickster became the source for numerous interpretations in modernist literature.

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Un siglo, una década y un año de Carlo Michelstaedter.

Sincronía ◽

10.32870/sincronia.axxv.n80.8b21 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol XXV (80) ◽

pp. 176-187

Author(s):

Gabriel Adelio Saia ◽

Keyword(s):

20Th Century ◽

Early 20Th Century ◽

Carlo Michelstaedter ◽

Italian Philosophy ◽

Poetic Work ◽

Shed Light

Carlo Michelstaedter (Gorizia, 1887-1910) left a singular trail in the Italian philosophy of the early 20th century. Almost one hundred and eleven years after his demise, his suicide, one can still discuss the influence of the Italian thinker, the vitality of their topics and the depth of their thinking. Our purpose is to know the figure that subsists behind the thinker of Persuasion and Rhetoric. In accordance with this objective, we will make a tour of his philosophical, epistolary and poetic work, which is certainly not enough. However, it will help us to shed light on the fas-cinating creation of the last doctor of nihilism, the last great diagnosis of the profound lack of sense that carried the second part of the S. XIX and inaugurated the first decade of the S. XX. In the form of an elegy, perhaps even an ode, we will remember the Italian philosopher in these times, for he remains a fruitful, unfinished and extremely mysterious undertaking. In conclusion, we will try to defend Michelstaedter from merely suicidal readings and approach a four-time interpretation of the Italian philosopher.

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