Introduction
Albrecht Koschorke and Konstantin Kaminskij
The Tyrant with his Back to the Wall: Nero’s Artistic
Self-Expansion
Ulrich Gotter
Benito Mussolini: “Babeuf” (1902)
Poetry
and Tyranny: The Case of Benito Mussolini
Richard Bosworth
Joseph Stalin: “Over this Land” (1895)
Stalin’s Writing: From the Romantic Poetry of the Future to the
Socialist Realist Prose of the Past
Evgeny Dobrenko
Adolf Hitler: Excerpt from Mein Kampf
(1924)
Ideology in Execution: On Hitler’s Mein
Kampf
Albrecht Koschorke
Kim Il-sung: “Poem Dedicated to Comrade Kim Jong-il in
His 50 th Birthday” (1992)
Dead Father’s Living Body:
Kim Il-sung’s Seed theory and the North Korean Arts
Suk-Young Kim
Mao Zedong: “Snow” (1936)
Mao Zedong’s
Poetry: Form as Statement
Karl-Heinz Pohl
Muammar al-Gaddafi: Excerpt from “Escape to Hell”
(1993)
A Poor Despot Descends to Hell: On the Writing
and Thinking Styles of Muammar al-Gaddafi
Heiner Lohmann
Saddam Hussein: “Unbind it” (2007)
The
Principle of Single-Handed Tyranny: On Saddam Hussein’s Literary
Works
Burkhard Müller
Saparmyrat Niyazov: “You are a Turkman”
(2001)
Saparmurat Niyazov’s Ruhnama: The Invention of
Turkmenistan
Riccardo Nicolosi
Radovan Karadžić: “Sarajevo” (1971)
“Nothing is Forbidden in my Faith”: The Metamorphoses of Radovan
Karadžić
Slavoj Žižek
List of Contributors
Albrect Koschorke is Professor of German Literature and Literary
Studies at the University of Konstanz.
Konstantin Kaminskij is Assistant Professor at the University of
Konstanz and the founder of the Central Asia and Caucasus School
for Ecological Education.
"There's a belief that cruel tyrants are rather sentimental. But
the opposite is also true: like thin-skinned porcupines (with no
offence intended to that wonderful creature) they often hide their
inner insecurities under their macho armoury. This book of
brilliant authors--from Gotter to Zizek--explores the everlasting
relationship between politics and poetry through the life of these
modern day 'shamans' of the world, including Hitler, Stalin, Mao
and other infamous dictators."--Hamid Ismailov
"Modern tyrants like Mussolini, Stalin, Hitler, Mao Zedong, Kim
Il-sung, Saddam Hussein and others thought of themselves as
talented intellectuals who had lessons to teach the world through
their literary and artistic achievements. What effect did this have
on their policies? How much was the terror they rained on their
people part of their sense of performance? This perceptive,
fascinating work explores the writings of these and other tyrants
ranging from Roman Emperor Nero to the murderous leader of the
Bosnian Serbs Radovan Karadzic. It is a sobering and enlightening
book that needs to be read to better understand these
monsters."--Daniel Chirot
"A fascinating collection of illuminating contributions on the
aesthetic passions of political sociopaths. Mussolini, Stalin,
Hitler, Mao, et al., appear as they really were: a gallery of
monsters engaged in romantic self-aggrandizement. Underneath the
metaphors we discover the swamp of egocentric obsessions with
unlimited power. Highly recommended to all those who want to grasp
the secrets of the dictatorial mind, this book reveals much of the
inner life of the soulless tyrants."--Vladimir Tismaneanu
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