Fascism, Vulnerability, and the Escape from Freedom

A worldwide struggle between democracy and authoritarianism set against a backdrop of global surveillance capitalism is unmistakable. Examples range from Myanmar, China, and the Philippines to Hungary, Turkey, Russia, and the United States. Fascism, Vulnerability, and the Escape from Freedom offers a multidisciplinary analysis drawing on psychology and literature to provide readers with a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that drive people to abandon democracy in favor of vertically organized authoritarianism and even fascism. In a comparative study of texts selected for their insights and occasional blind spots regarding fascist experiments of the past 100 years, Delogu examines fascism’s exploitation of fear (of change, loss, and death), disruption, and extreme inequality. The book offers an accessible and persuasive argument linking fascist authoritarianism, also called “right-wing populism,” to certain underlying conditions, such as a rise in us-versus-them thinking; distrust or simple apathy regarding democratic institutions, norms, and results; the vulnerabilities that result from extreme inequality (economic, social, racial); and addictions and codependency. Stressful events, such as a pandemic, an environmental disaster, or deep recession aggravate these harmful factors and make the fascist temptation, including the use of violence, almost irresistible. Delogu’s distinctive examination of texts that plumb the unconscious reveal linkages between actions and unavowable motives that purely historical and theoretical studies of fascism leave out. Erich Fromm’s neglected 1941 classic Escape from Freedom serves as a key reference in Delogu’s study, as does Robert Paxton’s authoritative history, The Anatomy of Fascism (2004). After underscoring the argument and urgent context around these two studies (Hitler’s Germany and George W. Bush’s post-9/11 America), Delogu examines novels, a diary, memoirs, and manifestos to show how vulnerability forces individuals to choose between exclusionary fascist authoritarianism and inclusive, collaborative democracy

Tocqueville and Democracy in the Internet Age

Tocqueville and Democracy in the Internet Age is an introduction to Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) and his monumental two-volume study Democracy in America (1835, 1840) that pays particular attention to the critical conversation around Tocqueville and contemporary democracy. It attempts to help us think better about democracy, and also perhaps to live better, in the Internet Age

Tocqueville and Democracy in the Internet Age

Tocqueville and Democracy in the Internet Age is an introduction to Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) and his monumental two-volume study Democracy in America (1835, 1840) that pays particular attention to the critical conversation around Tocqueville and contemporary democracy. It attempts to help us think better about democracy, and also perhaps to live better, in the Internet Age

John Chandler, William Dow, Yann Roblou eds. Nostalgies américaines / American Nostalgias : Litérature, Civilisation, Cinéma.

This volume of eleven essays, plus three short introductions by its trio of editors, takes up the question of nostalgia in the American context. The eleven essays are organized in three groups in the following order and quantities: “Civilisation” / “Cultural Studies” (5), Literature (Prose, Poetry, Drama), and Cinema (3). In addition to the array of genres chosen for study, the essays range across time periods from colonial America to the nostalgia-soaked politics of the Bush II administratio..

Tocqueville and democracy in the internet age

Tocqueville and Democracy in the Internet Age is an introduction to Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) and his monumental two-volume study Democracy in America (1835, 1840) that pays particular attention to the critical conversation around Tocqueville and contemporary democracy. It attempts to help us think better about democracy, and also perhaps to live better, in the Internet Age

John Chandler, William Dow, Yann Roblou eds. Nostalgies américaines / American Nostalgias : Litérature, Civilisation, Cinéma.

This volume of eleven essays, plus three short introductions by its trio of editors, takes up the question of nostalgia in the American context. The eleven essays are organized in three groups in the following order and quantities: “Civilisation” / “Cultural Studies” (5), Literature (Prose, Poetry, Drama), and Cinema (3). In addition to the array of genres chosen for study, the essays range across time periods from colonial America to the nostalgia-soaked politics of the Bush II administratio..

"Shit Happens": Grotesque-Reality in the Narrative Fictions of Ian McEwan

Maria started laughing, horrible fall-about laughing, full of fear. He could have joined in. She did not try to meet his eye, the way laughing people do. She was alone with it. She was not trying to stop, either. If she had stopped she would have started crying. He could have joined in, but he did not dare. Things could get out of hand. In films, when women laughed like that you were supposed to slap them hard round the face. Then they were silent as they grasped the truth, then they started ..

"How Did I Get Here?" : An Untimely Meditation on The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. by Washington Irving

Delogu Christopher Jon. "How Did I Get Here?" : An Untimely Meditation on The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. by Washington Irving. In: XVII-XVIII. Bulletin de la société d'études anglo-américaines des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles. N°52, 2001. pp. 219-228

On the Nature of Gothic and the Lessons of Ruskin

Delogu Christopher Jon. On the Nature of Gothic and the Lessons of Ruskin. In: Caliban, n°33, 1996. Le GOTHIQUE et ses Métamorphoses. Mélanges en l'honneur de Maurice Lévy. pp. 101-110

Fascism, Vulnerability, and the Escape from Freedom

A worldwide struggle between democracy and authoritarianism set against a backdrop of global surveillance capitalism is unmistakable. Examples range from Myanmar, China, and the Philippines to Hungary, Turkey, Russia, and the United States. Fascism, Vulnerability, and the Escape from Freedom offers a multidisciplinary analysis drawing on psychology and literature to provide readers with a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that drive people to abandon democracy in favor of vertically organized authoritarianism and even fascism. In a comparative study of texts selected for their insights and occasional blind spots regarding fascist experiments of the past 100 years, Delogu examines fascism’s exploitation of fear (of change, loss, and death), disruption, and extreme inequality. The book offers an accessible and persuasive argument linking fascist authoritarianism, also called “right-wing populism,” to certain underlying conditions, such as a rise in us-versus-them thinking; distrust or simple apathy regarding democratic institutions, norms, and results; the vulnerabilities that result from extreme inequality (economic, social, racial); and addictions and codependency. Stressful events, such as a pandemic, an environmental disaster, or deep recession aggravate these harmful factors and make the fascist temptation, including the use of violence, almost irresistible. Delogu’s distinctive examination of texts that plumb the unconscious reveal linkages between actions and unavowable motives that purely historical and theoretical studies of fascism leave out. Erich Fromm’s neglected 1941 classic Escape from Freedom serves as a key reference in Delogu’s study, as does Robert Paxton’s authoritative history, The Anatomy of Fascism (2004). After underscoring the argument and urgent context around these two studies (Hitler’s Germany and George W. Bush’s post-9/11 America), Delogu examines novels, a diary, memoirs, and manifestos to show how vulnerability forces individuals to choose between exclusionary fascist authoritarianism and inclusive, collaborative democracy