Chapter 2. Waiting for Caesar
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Guido Avezzù
Abstract
Caesarism is a complex category, often interpreted as synonymous with imperialism and identified with the rule of strong authoritarian figures such as Napoleon, Bismarck, and Mussolini. Adopting a Gramscian perspective, this chapter argues that Caesarism identifies a far more articulated phenomenon which should not be reduced to simplified ideas of authoritarianism or to the grotesque theatrics of Fascist power. Caesarism in the twenty years of the Fascist regime was a response to a pervasive crisis in Italy, which it did not solve, but maintained alive and contained through an institutionalised form of instability based on revolutionary and populist premises. The contradictory paradigm of Caesar as a ‘democratic dictator’, reproposed by recent criticism, was in fact first expressed by Enrico Corradini in his 1902 play Giulio Cesare, later revised in the 1920s, which in many respects dialogues with Shakespeare’s more famous play. This chapter explores the formation of regimes of expectations about ‘Caesarism’ in the first three decades of twentieth-century Italy by examining the dynamic intersection of different narratives about the ‘historical Caesar’ and what Gramsci calls the ‘myth of Caesar’, both literary and cultural at large. The discussion sets Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar against this rich mythopoietic background, investigating, on the one hand, its complex dialogue with the contemporary Italian ‘Caesar plays’, and, on the other, their implicit responses to it.
Abstract
Caesarism is a complex category, often interpreted as synonymous with imperialism and identified with the rule of strong authoritarian figures such as Napoleon, Bismarck, and Mussolini. Adopting a Gramscian perspective, this chapter argues that Caesarism identifies a far more articulated phenomenon which should not be reduced to simplified ideas of authoritarianism or to the grotesque theatrics of Fascist power. Caesarism in the twenty years of the Fascist regime was a response to a pervasive crisis in Italy, which it did not solve, but maintained alive and contained through an institutionalised form of instability based on revolutionary and populist premises. The contradictory paradigm of Caesar as a ‘democratic dictator’, reproposed by recent criticism, was in fact first expressed by Enrico Corradini in his 1902 play Giulio Cesare, later revised in the 1920s, which in many respects dialogues with Shakespeare’s more famous play. This chapter explores the formation of regimes of expectations about ‘Caesarism’ in the first three decades of twentieth-century Italy by examining the dynamic intersection of different narratives about the ‘historical Caesar’ and what Gramsci calls the ‘myth of Caesar’, both literary and cultural at large. The discussion sets Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar against this rich mythopoietic background, investigating, on the one hand, its complex dialogue with the contemporary Italian ‘Caesar plays’, and, on the other, their implicit responses to it.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- List of contributors ix
- Introduction 1
-
Part 1. Identity crises
- Chapter 1. 1916 25
- Chapter 2. Waiting for Caesar 51
- Chapter 3. Fascist crises 95
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Part 2. Power games and the crisis of history
- Chapter 4. “A great crisis of identification and understanding of reality” 149
- Chapter 5. Allegorising and minoritising Richard III 175
-
Part 3. Crises of representation
- Chapter 6. Notes on Shakespeare, simulacra, and the aporias of ‘acting’ 215
- Chapter 7. Narrating and unravelling Italian crises through Shakespeare (2000–2016) 245
- Afterword 277
- Index of Names 283
- Index of Subjects 291
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- List of contributors ix
- Introduction 1
-
Part 1. Identity crises
- Chapter 1. 1916 25
- Chapter 2. Waiting for Caesar 51
- Chapter 3. Fascist crises 95
-
Part 2. Power games and the crisis of history
- Chapter 4. “A great crisis of identification and understanding of reality” 149
- Chapter 5. Allegorising and minoritising Richard III 175
-
Part 3. Crises of representation
- Chapter 6. Notes on Shakespeare, simulacra, and the aporias of ‘acting’ 215
- Chapter 7. Narrating and unravelling Italian crises through Shakespeare (2000–2016) 245
- Afterword 277
- Index of Names 283
- Index of Subjects 291
