Abstract
"La Donna Mobile: Massimo Bontempelli's Nostra Dea as Fascist Modernism" offers a reading of the 1925 play Nostra Dea in the context of the widespread aesthetic return to order of the period. Discussing the play as a response to Gabriele d'Annunzio's decadentism and F.T. Marinetti's futurism, the author considers it one of the new "myths for the modern era" Bontempelli called for in his literary movement Novecento, which he claimed was spiritually akin to fascism. Revealing how the play both draws on and subverts key aspects of fascist modernism – such as its "rhetoric of virility" and "aesthetization of politics" – the article finally cautions against simple equations that render art of the right "irrational" and art of the left "alienating," suggesting that the play's ideological ambiguity is its artistic success.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
