This session explores the intersection between fascism and literature, particularly theatre, to ask how theatrical works, as well as other forms of poetry and art, can become a space for anti-authoritarian interruption.How do we break the cyclical myth with which fascism enchants the masses? How can the theatrics of the stage–from antiquity, to Shakespeare, to Brecht and beyond (as well as other forms of art and poetics) be used to disrupt and interrupt that which vehemently resists difference and heterogeneity?Fascism, from the Latin word “fascis,” refers to a “bundle of rods.” The “fasces” then becomes the Roman symbol of authority and unity–an undoubtable pledge to homogeneity which, in its inception, admonishes and restricts change and difference. From its inception in Italy and its refinement in Germany until today, fascism haunts us through modern dictators, rhetoric, and far-right ideologies which never cease to re-emerge from the past. For Walter Benjamin, time is messianic, and with it comes the cyclical, mythical, homogeneous thought-producing apparatuses of fascist governments whose beguiling rhythms lull the sleepy into obedient automaticity.

We ask: How do we break the cyclical myth with which fascism enchants the masses? How can the theatrics of the stage–from antiquity, to Shakespeare, to Brecht and beyond (as well as other forms of art and poetics)–be used to disrupt and interrupt that which vehemently resists difference and heterogeneity?

We welcome works that focus on the theatrical, but also on anti-authoritarian works of resistance from beyond theatre. The aim is to explore any literary form of anti-authoritarian interruption.

Submit abstracts here: https://pamla.ballastacademic.com/User/SubmitAbstract/19823