Tyrants writing poetry

Why do tyrants - of all people - often have poetic aspirations? Where do terror and prose meet? This book contains nine case studies that compare the cultural history of totalitarian regimes. The essays focus not on the arts, literature or architecture but on the phenomenon that many of history's great despots considered themselves talented writers. By studying the artistic ambitions of Nero, Mussolini, Stalin, Hitler, Mao Zedong, Kim Il-sung, Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein, Saparmurat Niyazov and Radovan Karadzic, the authors explore the complicated relationship between poetry and political violence.

Translation of: Despoten dichten: Sprachkunst und Gewalt. Translated from the German.

Cover; Title page; Copyright page; Table of Contents; Introduction ALBRECHT KOSCHORKE AND KONSTANTIN KAMINSKIJ; The Tyrant with His Back to the Wall: Neroâ#x80;#x99;s Artistic Self-Expansion (ULRICH GOTTER); Benito Mussolini: â#x80;#x9C;Babeuf â#x80;#x9D; (1902); Poetry and Tyranny: The Case of Benito Mussolini (RICHARD JAMES BOON BOSWORTH); Joseph Stalin: â#x80;#x9C;Over This Landâ#x80;#x9D; (1895); Stalinâ#x80;#x99;s Writing: From the Romantic Poetry of the Futuret o the Socialist Realist Prose of the Past (EVGENY DOBRENKO); Adolf Hitler: Excerpt from Mein Kampf (1924).

Ideology in Execution: On Hitlerâ#x80;#x99;s Mein Kampf (ALBRECHT KOSCHORKE)Kim Il-sung: â#x80;#x9C;Poem Dedicated to Comrade Kim Jong-il on His 50th Birthdayâ#x80;#x9D; (1992); Dead Fatherâ#x80;#x99;s Living Body: Kim Il-sungâ#x80;#x99;s Seed Theory and North Korean Arts (SUK-YOUNG KIM); Mao Zedong: â#x80;#x9C;Snowâ#x80;#x9D; (1936); Mao Zedongâ#x80;#x99;s Poetry: Form as Statement (KARL-HEINZ POHL); Muammar al-Gaddafi: Excerpt from â#x80;#x9C;Escape to Hellâ#x80;#x9D; (1993); A Poor Despot Descends to Hell: On the Writing and Thinking Styles of Muammar al-Gaddafi (HEINER LOHMANN); Saddam Hussein: â#x80;#x9C;Un…