The Pike: Gabriele d’Annunzio, Poet, Seducer and Preacher of War

The Pike: Gabriele d’Annunzio, Poet, Seducer and Preacher of War
Lucy Hughes-Hallett

WINNER OF THE 2013 SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION, THE 2013 DUFF COOPER PRIZE, THE POLITICAL BOOK AWARDS POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR 2014 AND THE 2013 COSTA BOOK AWARDS BIOGRAPHY OF THE YEARThe story of Gabriele D’Annunzio, poet, daredevil – and Fascist.In September 1919 Gabriele D’Annunzio, successful poet, dramatist and occasional politician with an innate flair for the melodramatic, declared himself the Commandante of the city of Fiume in modern day Croatia. He intended to establish the utopian modern state upon his muddled fascist and artistic ideals and create a social paradigm for the rest of the world. It was a fittingly dramatic pinnacle to a career that had been essentially theatrical.In her new book Lucy Hughes-Hallett charts the enthralling but controversial life of D’Annunzio – acclaimed poet and author, legendary seducer and charmer – who lived an extravagant and debt-ridden life, and became a military and national hero. He evolved from an idealistic poet, who allied himself with the Romantic aesthetic, to an instigator of radical right-wing revolt against democratic authority. D’Annunzio’s colourful story is also a political parable: through his apparently contradictory nature and the eventual failure of the Fiume endeavour, a picture is created of the politically turbulent Europe of the early 20th century and of the poison of emergent fascism.As in the successful Heroes, Hughes-Hallett takes the story of a memorable character’s life to explore the society and politics of the times in which he lived. She raises questions concerning the figure of the ‘superman’, the cult of nationalism and the origins of political extremism and war. At the centre however stands the flamboyant and charismatic D’Annunzio: a figure as deplorable as he is fascinating.

THE PIKE

Gabriele d’Annunzio

Poet, Seducer and Preacher of War

LUCY HUGHES-HALLETT

COPYRIGHT (#ulink_5ce97849-ef61-52fe-9401-0eb873589f3c)

4th Estate

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This ebook first published in Great Britain by 4th Estate in 2013

Copyright © Lucy Hughes-Hallett 2013

Map © John Gilkes

Cover shows d’Annunzio, 1919 (postcard, 14 x 9cm) by Ivo Tijardović (1895–1976)

The right of Lucy Hughes-Hallett to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

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Source ISBN 9780007213955

Ebook Edition © March 2017 ISBN: 9780007356515

Version: 2017-03-17

PRAISE (#u4c7c5bd8-f76b-5f45-81cf-5446aa5038f8)

From the reviews of The Pike:

‘A magnificent portrait of a preposterous character whose life is a scarcely credible saga of ambition and outrageous exploits … His biographer has done him full justice’ FRANCIS WHEEN, Mail on Sunday

‘A bland chronology is the opposite of Lucy Hughes-Hallett’s beautiful, strange and original structure. The Pike sets out the inner life of this fascinating man in a dazzling jumble of fragments and obsessions … An extraordinarily intimate portrait of him … we feel we are inside his life … If you want to understand fascism, you must start with d’Annunzio; and if you wish to understand him, then here is your book’ DANIEL SWIFT, New Statesman

‘Hugely enjoyable … Hughes-Hallett has a great talent for encapsulating an era or an attitude with an arresting one-liner … The fact that almost 700 pages flew by bears testimony to how pleasurable and readable those pages were’ TOBIAS JONES, Sunday Times

‘A deeply evocative new biography … She is a strong match for her subject, something that so many of the women in d’Annunzio’s life were lamentably not. Her style is rich, ironic and pugnacious; she jousts willingly with him and the reader becomes a spectator of this subtle and fascinating contest’ Economist

‘Hughes-Hallett dances her way through this extraordinary life in a style that is playful, punchy and generally pleasing’ IAN BIRRELL, Observer

‘It takes courage to write a biography like this one … its exhilarating virtuosity [is] d’Annunzian in the best sense’ JONATHAN KEATES, Sunday Telegraph

‘Engrossing and superbly written … Lucy Hughes-Hallett has written an eminently readable biography. Its strength lies in her ability to tease out and examine the strands of D’Annunzio’s complex personality in ways that continually illuminate how creativity can coexist with inhumane thought and action’ CHRISTOPHER DUGGAN, Times Literary Supplement

‘Exceptional … Hughes-Hallett has done an admirable job’ STUART KELLY, Scotsman

‘A vivid picture of the flow of ideas and inspirations in d’Annunzio, the meshing of work and character. The whole is an enthralling curiosity, much like d’Annunzio’s final epic monument to himself, the Vittoriale villa above Lake Garda’ ROBERT GORDON, Literary Review

‘[A] richly kaleidoscopic biography … In this scintillating study, full of wit and irony, she plumbs the depths of D’Annunzio’s horrible fascination’ PIERS BRENDON, The Oldie

for Lettice and Mary, with love

Contents

COVER (#uec58ea99-0740-54ac-914a-1ee26e69ea20)

TITLE PAGE (#ue9e23e74-e3a6-57b4-8775-de18f19bfeba)

COPYRIGHT (#ulink_916b68c3-5e2c-5941-ab6b-bd3b2e995ba2)

PRAISE

DEDICATION

I - ECCE HOMO (#ulink_35b6b0e2-8284-52a7-bf78-e5b3c27ac23d)

THE PIKE (#ulink_30745965-d95a-5662-a106-977f692781b5)

SIGHTINGS (#ulink_456e3ce0-fb92-5684-a61c-55fae4092b10)

SIX MONTHS (#ulink_ee412887-812d-50fd-a495-48ecc2bc9e93)

II - STREAMS (#ulink_9392cdfa-31c3-5974-b995-4d71c7b44747)

WORSHIP (#ulink_7e8d22fb-25eb-56dc-9c89-321ad45ade5c)

GLORY (#ulink_8745ec5e-642f-5446-9548-c4bb88a0b4d5)

LIEBESTOD (#ulink_269653c4-b542-5082-9c40-92041fe1d5c4)

HOMELAND (#ulink_0eff2f28-aafc-5ac7-9017-da3aa981340b)