Sententiousness and Nationalist Discourse

The Case of Alfredo Rocco

Bibliographic Data

ID6305331
AuthorsJohn Dickie (0000-0002-0519-9317, University College London, corresponding author)
Year2000
Volume6
Issue1
Pages3-22
Publication date2000-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNations and Nationalism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1345-5078 • E-ISSN: 1469-8129
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1354-5078.2000.00003.x
OpenAlexW2032612644
LanguageEN
References cited9

This article considers the normative and hypostatising functions of nationalist discourse, and the necessity of rhetoric to nations and nationalism. It does so on the basis of a case study of sententiousness in the thought of Alfredo Rocco. Rocco was one of the most important Nationalist and Fascist intellectuals and the legislative architect of the Fascist state. His political thought is analysed by taking as a starting point a quirk of the historiography on Rocco, which insistently attributes a dangerous ‘rigour’ to his texts, and in particular to the punchy, sententious quality of his style. A close reading of Rocco's nationalism, using Flaubert to understand the rhetoric of sententiousness, reveals a systematic pattern of contradictions between normative and hypostatised definitions of the nation. Aspects of these findings, it is argued, can potentially be extended to embrace all forms of nationalism

Aesthetics · Art · Historiography · Linguistics · Literature · Nationalism · Normative · Political science · Politics · Rhetoric · Sociology · State (computer science · Style (visual arts · Italian Fascism and Post-war Society · Law · Law in Society and Culture · Philosophy

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