Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Fascist Literature: Three Poetry Competitions in Fascist Italy

Project description

Understanding the interrelation between culture and totalitarianism

Benito Mussolini believed that Fascist Italy would inspire a new kind of literature. However, he did not impose any specific artistic standards. In the 1930s, Galeazzo Ciano, Minister of Press and Propaganda, controlled three literary awards, exemplifying how Fascist politicians tried to shape Italian culture and create the civilization Mussolini envisioned. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) programme, the FascLit project investigates the relationship between literature and totalitarianism. It focuses on these three literary prizes to reconstruct their history and dynamics, and to analyse prize-winning works. The project combines traditional literary analysis tools with cutting-edge digital textometry to understand what ‘Fascist literature’ meant for the Fascists. Ultimately, FascLit aims to better understand the interrelation between culture and totalitarianism.

Objective

FascLit investigates the relationship between literature and totalitarianism by focusing on three literary prizes which took place in the 1930s in Fascist Italy: “Poeti del tempo di Mussolini”, “Cervia” and “Viareggio”. While Mussolini never imposed predefined aesthetic criteria on art, he thought a new literature would rise spontaneously from living in a truly Fascist country. What is common to the three prizes analysed is that they were controlled, directly or indirectly, by Galeazzo Ciano, Minister of Press and Propaganda from 1935 and from 1936 Minister of Foreign Affairs. Thus, they represent a prominent and concrete case study for exploring how Fascist politicians tried to shape Italian culture and how artistic and personal ambitions sought to contribute to the creation of the Fascist civilisation Mussolini called for. The aim of FascLit is indeed twofold: to reconstruct the history and dynamics of the three prizes and the networks of intellectuals involved based on archival work; to analyse the prize-winning works by combining the traditional tools of literary analysis with the cutting-edge tools of digital textometry to understand what “Fascist literature” meant for the Fascists. Thanks to a multi-disciplinary approach at the intersection of history, sociology of culture and literature, this project aims to systematically analyse the three prizes, bringing together the political and institutional aspects and the cultural and literary dimension. It will result in the publication of three peer-reviewed articles and in the creation of an online publicly and freely accessible portal on literary prizes during Fascism. As such, FascLit will not only offer the first scientific study of an as yet little explored historical and literary product. By analysing the concrete relationships between literature and politics in Fascist Italy, it will also pave the way for a broader understanding and further exploration of the interrelation between culture and totalitarianism.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

UNIVERSITA PER STRANIERI DI SIENA
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 188 590,08
Address
PIAZZA CARLO ROSSELLI 27/28
53100 Siena
Italy

See on map

Region
Centro (IT) Toscana Siena
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

No data
My booklet 0 0