Ebook: 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.;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).