The Story
While public intellectuals are typically thought of as inherently nonconformist and critical of established power, in practice many adapt themselves to the views of the majority—particularly in the context of repressive governments and military dictatorships. When the political winds change, such figures often refashion themselves to fit the new paradigm. Ghosts of Fascism follows the trajectories of four Italian intellectuals who, despite their passivity and at times even collaboration with Fascist institutions, became some of postwar Italy's most iconic anti-Fascists: Federico Chabod, a prominent historian of the twentieth century; the jurist Piero Calamandrei, who participated in drafting the Italian democratic constitution; the influential literary critic Luigi Russo, who presided over the prestigious Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa; and Alberto Moravia, the internationally renowned novelist. Simon Levis Sullam weaves together their histories to show how postwar Italian intellectuals quietly revised their previous political positions, redefining themselves—and their recent pasts—as consistently anti-Fascist.
Description
While public intellectuals are typically thought of as inherently nonconformist and critical of established power, in practice many adapt themselves to the views of the majority—particularly in the context of repressive governments and military dictatorships. When the political winds change, such figures often refashion themselves to fit the new paradigm. Ghosts of Fascism follows the trajectories of four Italian intellectuals who, despite their passivity and at times even collaboration with Fascist institutions, became some of postwar Italy's most iconic anti-Fascists: Federico Chabod, a prominent historian of the twentieth century; the jurist Piero Calamandrei, who participated in drafting the Italian democratic constitution; the influential literary critic Luigi Russo, who presided over the prestigious Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa; and Alberto Moravia, the internationally renowned novelist. Simon Levis Sullam weaves together their histories to show how postwar Italian intellectuals quietly revised their previous political positions, redefining themselves—and their recent pasts—as consistently anti-Fascist.