Projections of epic: Spatial transformations and narrative revisions in Italian and European modernism

This dissertation addresses a notion of epic space that draws on topoi from ancient epic narratives but reflects the cultural, social, and technological changes of the early twentieth century. In the essay “On Epic and Dramatic Poetry,” Goethe maintains that an epic poem describes man “as he acts outwardly: battles, travels, any kind of enterprise that requires some sensuous breadth.” In other words, “epic” requires space. My purpose is to examine the transformation of the term “epic” in the modern context through specific revisionings of patterns of epic space. Although informed by interpretations of “epic” as literary form, my treatment of modern epic is not confined to literature. It dwells significantly on cinema and focuses on “epic” from the point of view of space. It is precisely the inherent connection of cinema and space that distances my project from modern interpretations of “epic” as literary or cinematic form or genre.; My study is organized according to three different “locations” of cultural change. Chapter I analyzes the production of an Italian-African epic space in the narrative film Lo squadrone bianco, in the poetry of D'Annunzio, and in images from colonial and propaganda magazines. Chapter II promotes a spatial, rather than thematic or aesthetic, approach to the Alps through early mountain films. I argue that the film Die weisse Hölle vom Piz Palü reveals spatial practices that not only produced the Alps as space rather than landscape, but also gave an epic dimension to it. Chapter III focuses on the epic dimension of space in the Futurist-ic city as represented by two specific works within the early twentieth-century avant-garde: Sant'Elia's drawings of the Città Nuova and Lang's urban film Metropolis. While the first two chapters explore natural environments and remain related to literary epic, the third chapter of my study explores a totally artificial space. Most important, this chapter elaborates a notion of epic space that breaks loose from the mold of literary epic and allows for a redefinition of “epic” in modernity.