The
infernal library
on dictators, the books they wrote, and other catastrophes of literacy
Kalder, Daniel
1974-
creator
text
biography
nyu
2018
First edition.
monographic
eng
xvi, 379 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 25 cm
A harrowing tour of 'dictator literature' in the twentieth-century, featuring the soul-killing prose and poetry of Hitler, Mao, and many more, which shows how books have sometimes shaped the world for the worse.
Introduction: Tradition and the individual tyrant
Phase I: The dictator's canon. Lenin ; Stalin ; Mussolini ; Hitler ; Mao
Phase II: Tyranny and mutation. Small demons ; Catholic action ; Disembraining machines ; Eastern approaches ; Dead letters ; Another green world
Phase III: Dissolution and madness. Midnight in the garden of ultraboredom ; North Korea : the metafictions of Kim Jong-il ; Cuba : Castro's maximum verbiage ; Iraq : the historical romances of Saddam Hussein ; Post-Soviet : Comrade Zoroaster ; Turkmenistan : post-everything
Phase IV: Death is not the end
Conclusion
Daniel Kalder.
Includes index.
Dictatorships
History
Dictators as authors
History
Revolutionary literature
Authorship
Dictaduras
Historia
Dictadores como autores
Literatura revolucionaria
Autoría
Dictators' writings
JC 495 K14i 2018
321.9
9781627793421 (hardcover)
2017009633
DLC
170727
20230411090813.0
19846056
eng