The Antiquity of the Italian Nation: The Cultural Origins of the Political Myth in Modern Italy, 1796–1943

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-109
Author(s):  
Edoardo M. Barsotti
2019 ◽  
pp. 32-38

The article introduces the creative work of the famous American playwright Sam Shepard, whose works are almost unknown to our Uzbek reader. His plays are well known throughout the world; they influenced the formation of the worldview of readers of different nations and show the peculiarities of American culture. Despite the worldwide fame of Sam Shepard’s works, they are not studied well by literary critics. In America and Europe his works have been studied in details for a long period, and even several monographs in English have been written. However, neither in the Russian speaking, nor in the domestic literary criticism there is yet no major work on Shepard's works. The article also deals with the artistic features of the political myth of the “American dream” in one of the most scandalous plays, “The God of Hell,” dedicated to the protest against the war in Iraq. Thus, this study, which touches upon some issues of Shepard's creative work in connection with his innovative artistic originality, to a certain extent, seeks to fill this gap.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Katrin Travouillon ◽  
Julie Bernath

Abstract The international community is as ubiquitous as it is elusive and its universalist pretensions remain unchallenged in political and academic discourse. In response, this article turns to Bottici's work on political myths. Against the notion of myths as falsehoods, we argue that they create their own sphere of shared social and political reality. The analysis centres on the case of Cambodia, a country that served as an experiment of liberal interventionism. It draws on archival and field research on two consecutive international interventions, a review of public statements by international actors, and interviews with Cambodian actors and activist. We argue that to understand the ideas actors use to orient themselves as they press for change, it is necessary to consider how decades of engagement with the myth have shaped the political imaginary. Our empirical analysis points to three different phases in the use of the myth: Its production during UNTAC, the reinforcement of its narratives through subsequent legal, aid and development interventions, and finally its contemporary use in a post-liberal context. We observe that Cambodian actors increasingly engage the myth to question the terms of transnational cooperation for democracy. Our work has implications for assessments of the legacies of liberal peacebuilding.


Author(s):  
Julian Swann

Between the assassination of Henri IV in 1610 and the French Revolution of 1789, thousands of French nobles, including members of the royal family, courtiers, bishops, generals, and judges suffered internal exile, imprisonment, or even death for having displeased their sovereign. For most that punishment was independent of the legal system and was the result of a simple royal command or a written order, known as a lettre de cachet. Yet rather than protest, the victims were willing to obey, spending months, even years in disgrace without any knowledge of when, or even if, their ordeal would end. Their punishment was for many a terrible personal blow, striking at the heart of their own identity and relationship to the king, and it threatened the future of their families, friends, and political allies. This book is the first in-depth study of political disgrace, which was intrinsic to the exercise of royal power, drawing on the mystique of monarchy and the ideologies of divine right, patriarchy, and justice that underpinned royal authority. It explores the rise and consolidation of a new model of disgrace amongst the nobility for which obedience to the king gradually replaced the rebellious attitudes fostered during the years of religious and civil strife. Yet for all the power of royal disgrace, it was always open to challenge and in the course of the eighteenth century it would come under a sustained attack that tells us much about the political and cultural origins of the French Revolution.


Terminus ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (2 (59)) ◽  
pp. 97-133
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Franczak

Polotia recepta. A Map of the Principality of Polatsk: Texts and Pretexts of thePower Dispute This study discusses an important aspect of a political message conveyed by Stanisław Pachołowiecki’s map, published in 1580 by G.B Cavalieri’s printing house in Rome as part of The Atlas of the Principality of Polatsk – Descriptio Ducatus Polocensis. The message in question is one of the paratexts, presenting a detailed historical note on Polatsk and the Principality. The main goal of the study is to prove a double hypothesis, first that the note on Polatsk was a key argument legitimising the rule of Stephen Báthory – contested by Tsar Ivan the Terrible – not only over the small territory under dispute but over the whole Great Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and second, that the decision to aim the first Polish-Lithuanian military offensive in the 1577–1582 war at Polatsk was motivated by political rather than military or strategic considerations. In section I, preliminary assumptions, theses and research methods are presented. Then, in section II, the context of the propaganda campaign, as Pachołowiecki’s map ideological framework, is introduced. This is followed by a critical analysis of the historical note, based on Polish and Ruthenian-Lithuanian sources (III.1). The next section (III.2) demonstrates that Polatsk held a central place in the Muscovite political discourse. Having proclaimed himself a heir to the throne of the Great Duchy and to the crown of Poland, Ivan the Terrible seized the land of Polatsk, and the efficient Muscovite diplomacy started to assert the tsar’s alleged dynastic claim to Lithuania and Poland. In this way, the manipulated history of the “recovered Polatsk”, Polotia recepta, argued to be a historical part of Lithuania, can be seen as a reply to the Muscovite discourse of power drawing on dynastic claims to a non-existent duchy, and the key matter is the legitimisation of elective monarchy as opposed to hereditary one. Having discussed the theatrical and iconic form of the Polish triumph over Ivan the Terrible (III.3), the author highlights the long life of the political myth of the Polatsk statehood and its sign ificance for today’s Belarusian identity discourse.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-50
Author(s):  
Victoria Omelchenko

In this article, the author argues that philosophy is a "methodology" of understanding. Hermeneutics is the theory and methodology of interpretation especially the interpretation philosophical texts. H.-G. Gadamer asserted that methodical contemplation is opposite to experience and reflection. We can reach the truth only by understanding or mastering our experience. According to H.-G. Gadamer, our understanding is not fixed but rather is changing and always indicating new perspectives. The most important thing is to unfold the nature of individual understanding. Hermeneutics is not just "art", but the methodology of "understanding." Accordingly, philosophy is the methodology of understanding and interpretation. Philosophy is a science with its own subject and object. Legal laws are not absolute, therefore they should be interpreted. It is the task of philosophy. Philosophy speaks the language of concepts and evidence. Concepts should be specific, clear, defined. Philosophical work is the formulation of concepts. On the basis of such understanding of philosophy, we will now study the question of "political myth". Scientific exploration is devoted to the study of the concept of "myth" and identifying the essential features of the "political myth". What is "political myth" of modernity? What language is he speaking? What appealed? In this intelligence proved that "political myth" is a communication system that distorts reality. It is established that every "political myth" has its own shelf life and the boundaries of its interpretation. It is confirmed that "political myth" is one of the most effective tools to meet political goals, such as achievement of power and its legitimation. It is proved that political discourse is irrational, and political speeches appeal to the argument of sensuous, not rational. "Political myth" models own "world picture", which is a simplified, taken for granted, self-evident. It is proved that the ability of critical judgment, ability to work with information and qualitative analysis from the mouth of the unbiased media and the expert environment, though not a panacea, but partially negate the "force," "political myth". Myth has an irrational basis, and controls the emotions with the help of stereotypes. The myth creates its own reality and creates the effect of solidarity of the masses. The essence of "political myth" is that he always addressed to specific audiences, takes into account the peculiarities of mentality. A dominant position in the "political myth" plays a stereotype. Any stereotype is formed on the generalizations. What is the difference between the stereotypes and myths? "A stereotype is a label", which is the context, but it there is no story. That is, the stereotype is a form, and the myth is content history. In addition, in this exploration of the role and value of such concepts as "political magic" and "political spectacle" in the context of "political mythology" as applied mythology.


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