Fascism, Aviation and Mythical Modernity

Fernando Esposito is Lecturer at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Germany.

• 1. Aviation, Fascism, And The Longing For Order 2. Theoretical And Methodological Approach 3. Definition Of The Central Analytical Categories 4. Structure Of The Work PART I: LONGING FOR ORDER 1. Idea Non Vincit. Warburg And The Crisis Of Liberal Modernity 2. Icarus Rising. D'Annunzio, The Flying Artificer Of Myth 3. Longing For Order - Summary PART II: FRACTURED ORDER 1. Don Quixote Of The Air 2. Flying Swords And Mechanized Warfare 3. Transitional Heroes And The Order Of The Gemeinschaft 4. Fractured Order - Summary PART III: ETERNAL ORDER 1. Volare! The Fascist Take-Off Towards Eternal Order 2. Fascism And Mythical Modernity

"In its fascinating investigation of the cult of aviation under Mussolini and Hitler, Fascism, Aviation and Mythic Modernity demonstrates the extraordinary synthesis of technological hypermodernity with heroic palingenetic myth which pervaded the two regimes. Its blend of impeccable scholarship with sophisticated conceptualization should convince even the most blinkered 'empiricists' that, far from being anti-modern, inter-war fascism represented in its own way a profoundly modernist response to the crisis of liberal capitalist civilization." Professor Roger Griffin, Oxford Brookes University, UK "Aviation offered the last great new metaphor for rethinking the world. From Brescia's air meet in 1909, which both Franz Kafka and Gabriele d'Annunzio attended, to the 'right stuff' of the Apollo astronauts in 1969, flight reenchanted possibility and direction, reinserted danger, and revalidated authority. As Fernando Esposito shows in this enormously learned and accomplished study, flight paths enabled modern myth-making, but they veered toward fascism." - Peter Fritzsche, Professor of History, University of Illinois, USA