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Benedetto Croce and Italian Fascism by Fabio Fernando Rizi (review)

2005; Modern Humanities Research Association; Volume: 100; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/mlr.2005.a826496

2222-4319

Deborah Holmes,

Italian Fascism and Post-war Society

MLR, 100.2, 2005 525 veral of them are translated in this volume by Brian Moloney with an insightful intro? duction and notes. Indeed, as with the letters,these essays have not appeared before in English translation, with the exception of 'Men and Things in a District of London'; some have not appeared in print since their original publication. Moreover, Svevo's numerous contributions to La Nazione (which he helped to found) are only just com? ing to light through Moloney's research: thus far,this indefatigable scholar has disco? vered more than 150 short pieces, some ofwhich appear in an expanded ltalian version ofthis book, published by the Museo Sveviano (2003). Moloney plans to edit a critical edition of all Svevo's essays and articles, which will be a major event in Svevo studies. The selection presented in English translation indicates the variety of topics that interested Svevo: the miners' strikes of 1920 and 1921, 'Transport', 'Hatred', 'Kind? ness', 'Perfidious Albion', and 'Theatre and Cinema'; the famous essay 'Soggiorno londinese' is also included. As Moloney observes: 'his various pieces for La Nazione, shed new light both on his work as a journalist and on his grasp of British affairsand culture' (p. 187). An aspect of life which impressed Svevo from his firstvisit was 'the sparkling air of freedom, real freedom' ('Men and Things in a District of London', p. 199). Coming as he did from a city whose Irredentist tendencies (and Svevo was an Irredentist sympathizer) were systematically stifled by the Austrian government from the 1870s until the First World War, one can understand his appreciation of the tolerant spirit of England. On a lighter note, his interest in sporting activities extended to soccer: he must be the only great novelist to have supported Charlton Athletic Football Club. The importance of these translations, revealing aspects of Svevo hitherto unknown to the English-speaking world, cannot be overestimated. It is a volume that should be on the shelves of all those who love and admire Svevo. A final note: it is dedicated to the memory of the late Fulvio Anzellotti, Svevo's great-nephew, industrialist and writer,whose own research into his family has also enriched Svevo scholarship. University of Kent Elizabeth Schachter Benedetto Croce and ltalian Fascism. By Fabio Fernando Rizi. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 2003. xii + 32ipp. ?40. ISBN 0-8020-3762-3. The title of this biography does not do justice to the ground it covers; Benedetto Croce and Politics would have been more appropriate. Croce's relationship to Fascism is set in an outline of his life-long political development and activities, beginning with his early youth, and touchingon his appointment as Senator in 1910, his stint as Minister of Education 1920-21, his membership of the doomed Liberal Party from 1925, his negotiations with the Allies in 1944, and his public role until his death in 1952. Rizi's aim is twofold; to explode the myth ofan Olympian, apolitical Croce, and to make his biography more accessible to an English-speaking readership. Given the study's commendable scope, it is perhaps understandable that, on occasions, both the documentation needed for the former and the contextualization for the latter suffer slightly. Most quotations and book titles are supplied in English and much ofthe his? torical background is explained?for example, the status of the ltalian Senate. Other aspects, such as the significance of ltalian colonialism, will remain unclear to the non-specialist. More detail on Croce's support forthe Libyan War of 1911-12 would have been interesting, especially in the light of his decision effectivelyto condone the Fascists' invasion of Ethiopia twenty years later by donating his Senator's medal to replenish the national gold reserves. The focus is Croce's active participation in ltalian politics; his philosophical and historical work is mentioned only when Rizi believes itnecessary to clarifyhis actions. 526 Reviews This means once again that the non-specialist is given only a very general notion of concepts vital to Croce's anti-Fascism, such as 'the ideals ofthe Risorgimento', 'love of the fatherland', 'the Italian people'. Although Rizi criticizes Denis Mack Smith for denigrating Croce's 'false idealization of the Risorgimento...