Reviews

• 不思議な失敗作、でも生涯の基本的なアウトラインは把握できます

  三島由紀夫の作品とbalkanを扱った作品 The Balkans: Nationalism, War, and the Great Powers, 1804-1999 で描かれていた彼の姿は印象深い残像を残しています。それと共にfiumeという地名も。でも彼の文学作品に手を出すことはありませんでした。そのような限界の中で、彼の伝記に挑むなんていうのはいうまでもなく神をも恐れない行為です。僕の悪い癖だな。もうこういう愚行はやめようと思っていながらもまた手を出してしまいました。 抵抗できない価格（1000円）でamazonでofferされていたというのも大きな理由なのかもしれません。そしてタイトル（seducer, preacher of war)が何とも言えないほど魅力を放っていました。そして著者の見るからにして英国ともいうべき名前も、ある一定程度の作品の質を示唆しており魅力的でした。この種のイギリス人は芸術そのものを作り出すことに関しては永遠に３流（？）ですが、芸術や芸術家の生涯をrepackageして、それぞれの時代もしくは後世の凡人の読者にわかりやすく提示することにかけては超一流なのです。 中身はというと、さすがの著者もd'annunzioという人物の巨大さに圧倒されてしまったようです。彼の文学、音楽、政治そして私生活（女性関係）が時代時代を彩る様々な流行（nationalism, decadence, futurerim, symbolism)と共に広く取り上げられていきますが、それぞれの流行(fad/zeitgeist)自体が大きな存在ですので一筋縄ではいきません。当時の様々な音楽家（dhiagilev, debussy, puccini)たちも登場しますがどれもある一瞬の邂逅の域を出ることはありません。そして彼の文学作品そのものが詳しく解読されることはありません。多面的な領域に貫徹したであろう彼のトータルな世界観と美意識のモティーフの発見と抽出が著者の狙いですが、当の対象が様々な相対立する流れの混合物ですので、この狙いは本書を読む限りではどうも達成されなかったようです。 この作業をスムーズに進めるために選択されたのは、イタリアという「artificial construct」とmussoliniという２つの補助線でしたが、この鋭い補助線をもってしても、結局のところd'annunzioの姿は未だ明確な輪郭を現さわずに向こうに見え隠れするだけなのです。 また登場する女性たちも数があまりにも多すぎて、部分的に取り上げられる描写もその具体的なディテールは別として結果としては印象を薄れさせてしまうだけです。イタリアという存在とmussoliniという強烈なパーソナリティはどうもこの作品の中ではその強烈さが薄れてしまっているようです。厳しすぎる評価かもしれません。 もしかすると著者はd'annunzioへの思いをこの作品の中で思いのままに表現することを意図的に封印したのかもしれません。彼はcontroversialな存在ですから、下手に取り扱ってしまうと、取扱人を破滅させてしまいますから。 そう、このような人物の伝記を一面的な興味で読んでも、おそらく時系列的な事実の軌跡以上のものを得ることはないのです。おそらく「英雄」はその作品との個人的で直接的な格闘を要求するのです。第三者によるsanitationを経た作品を通した安易な接近には限界があるのです。 最後に、ひとつ注文を付けると、それぞれの写真のきちんとした説明がほしかった。あと登場人物のglossaryが欲しかった。

• The Pike

  Stunningly well written. Ms Hughes Hallett is in full command of her extraordinary, brilliant, brutal and charismatic hero, not a word out of place

• Wonderful!

  Wonderful! I'm about 150 pages in, but I can't wait any longer to tell you -- Take it from me, this is a wonderful biography of a bizarre man, a real one-off. As enthralling and engrossing as any novel. And very informative about the context in Italy and the rise in Fascism. Surprised there are not more reviews! And at the moment, on Kindle, a real bargain (which is how I came to buy it). Totally recommended. ________________ Update April 24th. I have just finished this book. 600 pages later.... It is a really wonderful biography, an enormous amount of material organised into a very readable and interesting narrative. D'Annunzio was utterly bizarre - you wouldn't believe in his very existence if it wasn't supported by the evidence of research. An archetypal fascist, utterly contrary at different periods, very eloquent but talking utter nonsense about the importance of shedding blood (lots of blood!), clearly brilliant but often spouting complete b*llshit, Obsessed with sex and (latterly) drugs. By the end of the book the story has segued into the rise of Mussolini, in some ways a D'Annunzio-lite. This is a book for anyone with an interest in history (or a warning from history), ideology, or indeed the outer extremes of human nature. I do find it difficult to understand the esteem in which he was held - his sexual success, the way he was revered -- given how unpleasant and narcissistic he was, linking his personal fortunes to the destiny of Italy, and talking about himself as if he was shrouded in myth. Perhaps he was.... Do read this book! The current Kindle ebook price is a steal....

• Lithe and lively portrait of the poet of proto fascism

  A marvelously lively portrait of a quirky, ridiculous libertine who nevertheless captured the imagination of his age, a proto fascist who seemed to instinctively understand the politics of emotion, and the coming age of mass propaganda. Since I first read of the Republic of Fiume in university, long ago, I’ve wanted to know more about this peacock who seemed the hinge between the 19th Romantic movement, futurism, Catholic obsession with blood and sex, and the starker brutal hysterics ahead in Berlin and Moscow, as well as Rome. This provides it – I hadn’t realized the grotesque extent of his promiscuity, that he was seen as a huge talent, admired by Gide, James and even, reluctantly, by Hemmingway. I hadn’t grasped that his rather disgusting lust of war was matched by real courage – he was a man risked his own life as carelessly as he proposed shedding the blood of others. Lucy HH tells the tale of a startling creature lithely and lucidly – although the book isn’t quite as outré as some fans and detractors suggest – the little vignettes of a life are well supported by d’a ’s meticulous, seemingly hour by hour note books, not as some here have suggested out of sequence speculative fiction. Her simple expediency of rendering some snapshots in the present tense lends an urgency that deceives some into think it disjointed. LHH combines deep research with a firm authorial voice, understanding, sometimes almost affectionate, frequently mocking – I particularly like her highlighting the way he compared falling over in the mud while walking his dogs to life in the trenches – just occasionally blankly unforgiving. It is a rich and great read so any complaints feel a little churlish. But I would have enjoyed a little more judgment from her after all that immersion in a life. In our perhaps more conventional age d’a would have been castigated as a “sex addict” – but is there any explanation for his relentless adolescent drive ? More importantly I could have done with more on why a certain , fairly effete, aesthetic became tied to national fervor (not just in Italy, not just in d’a) – it is rather as if Wilde, not Kipling had been the poet of Imperialism. It is critical – for all the familiar revulsion at WWI’s slaughter, for some bathing in the blood of war and revolution was still the great sacramental redeemer of men and nations. But all that means is a tremendous exhilarating read left me wanting to know even more about the context of the times.

• Dettagliato

  Per gli appassionati della vita del Vate rappresenta un punto di riferimento.

• Excellent title

  This is an excellent biography about a very unusual person. It is maybe a bit too long but it is well documented and depicts a most controversial human being. It shows how a brilliant though rather disturbed person can spiral into spheres of power and take many others with him in this vortex. Rather frightening!

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