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Through East Asia to the sound of ‘Giovinezza’: Italian travel literature on China, Korea and Japan during the Fascist ventennio

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2019

Linetto Basilone Open the ORCID record for Linetto Basilone [Opens in a new window]
Linetto Basilone*
Affiliation:
Department of Global Studies, University of Auckland, New Zealand
*
*Email: lbas119@aucklanduni.ac.nz
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Abstract

During the Fascist ventennio, prominent Italian writers and journalists, such as Mario Appelius, Raffaele Calzini, Arnaldo Cipolla, Arnaldo Fraccaroli, Roberto Suster and Cesco Tommaselli, reported from China, Japan and Korea for Il Popolo d'Italia, Corriere della Sera and La Stampa. Their travel narratives were crucial for the creation and diffusion in Italy of the dominant representation of China and Korea as remote, decadent and exotic societies; and of Japan as a progressive society resonant with Fascist Italy. The narrativisation of these countries in Italian travelogues from the Fascist ventennio was part of a widespread discursive practice by Italian intellectuals willing to subscribe to, and actively disseminate, the guiding principles of Fascism. When emphasising China's and Korea's irreconcilable difference from, and Japan's affinity with, Fascist Italy, these intellectuals extolled the Italian race and culture, justified Italy's position in geopolitical dynamics, and propagandised the exceptionality of the Fascist ideology.

Durante il ventennio Fascista, alcuni tra i più importanti giornalisti e scrittori italiani (Mario Appelius, Raffaele Calzini, Arnaldo Cipolla, Arnaldo Fraccaroli, Roberto Suster and Cesco Tommaselli) viaggiarono in Cina, Corea e Giappone per Il popolo d'Italia, il Corriere della Sera e la Stampa. Le loro narrative di viaggio furono determinanti per la costruzione e diffusione in Italia delle rappresentazioni predominanti della Cina e della Corea come società esotiche, lontane e decadenti, nonché del Giappone come una società progressista e affine all'Italia fascista. Questi resoconti di viaggio furono dunque parte di estese pratiche discorsive, promosse da intellettuali italiani che si riconoscevano nel fascismo e ne disseminavano i principi guida. Attraverso l'enfasi posta nell'irriconciliabile differenza tra l'Italia fascista, la Cina e la Corea, nonché nell'affinità tra essa e il Giappone, costoro elogiarono la razza e la cultura italiane. Inoltre, essi propagandarono l'eccezionalità del fascismo e giustificarono l'orientamento politico della nazione italiana nelle dinamiche geo-politiche del tempo.

Keywords

FascismChinaJapanKoreatravel literatureitalianità
Type
Research Articles
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 24 , Special Issue 4: Italianerie: Transculturality, Co-creation and Transforming Identities between Italy and Asia , November 2019 , pp. 457 - 468
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 Association for the Study of Modern Italy 

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