F. T. Marinetti’s Sadistic War and Dynamic War between “8 anime e una bomba” and “L’alcova d’acciaio”

Abstract

The article compares some passages from two of Marinetti's works on the subject of war, the book of experimental prose 8 Anime in una bomba and the novel L'alcòva d'acciaio, analysing in particular Marinetti's exploration of the themes of sadism and cruelty. The comparison is based on the theories of the social psychologist Kurt Lewin on the perception of space and landscape in war (Krieg-slandschaft) and on Alberto Maria Banti's studies on the construction of patriotic-national rhetoric around the theme of both male and female body as the object of sadistic or masochistic impulses.