Resisting Leviathan: Depictions of Silvio Berlusconi in Italian fiction 2003–2011

Abstract

The article analyses a corpus of recent Italian narrative composed between 2003 and 2011, which primarily deals with the impact of Berlusconi's governance on contemporary Italian society. The corpus includes works by Babette Factory, Caruso, Cordelli, D'Amicis, Ferraresi, Janaczeck, Miraglia, Pazzi, Pincio, Salieri, and Vacca. By applying conceptual tools derived from Barthes’ ‘mythology’ and from Yves Citton's recent notion of mythocracy, with its marked Hobbesian overtones, the corpus’ main features (namely, a recurrent obsession with conspiracy plots and a stylistic blend of fictional and non-fictional registers) are read in close conjunction with the political conditions of Berlusconismo. The emphasis on failed conspiracy is seen as a reflection of its all-pervasive nature, while its uncanny ‘reality effects’ are a subversive mise en abyme of Berlusconi's omnipresent ‘fictionalization of politics’ (Salmon). Finally, the last part of the article focuses on textual analysis, detecting in the examined corpus three chief ideological traits: political immobility, a recursive conception of Italian history, and an obscene body politics, conflating Berlusconi's performance of youth with his concealment of death.