1st Edition

The Swastika Constructing the Symbol

By Malcolm Quinn Copyright 1994
    210 Pages
    by Routledge

    210 Pages
    by Routledge

    Despite the enormous amount of material on the subject of Nazism, there has been no substantial work on its emblem, the swastika. This original and controversial contribution examines the role that the swastika played in the construction of the Aryan myth in the nineteenth century, and its use in Nazi ideology as a symbol of party, nation and race, treating it as symbolic phenomenon in a cultural context. By identifying the swastika as a boundary or liminal image, Malcolm Quinn allies visual anaysis to issues of material culture and history.

    List of illustrations Acknowledgements Indtroduction: Reading the Swastika Part I: Symbol From Representation to Recognition Ostkolonisation The Construction Site Quest, Fermentation and Sublimity The Destroyers Artemfact Signals Seeing the Swastika The Return of Ulysses Symbol and Ornament Part II: Ornament Expressionism and the `Race-Spirit' Gesture and Character Anti-Ornament The Lavatorial Grotesque Autokinesis and Autonomy The Compulsion to Test Gothic Man World Domination Context and Non-Text Mimetic Codes The Mass Ornament Kino Swastika Part III: Swastika Swastika and Logo Commodity and Gift The Mission Statement Breaking the Chain: John Heartfield Apotheosis of the German Worker Redesigning the Reich Propaganda Continued Bibliography

    Biography

    Malcolm Quinn

    ` ... an original and intriguing study by an art teacher of enviable erudition ...' - TLS

    `Malcolm Quinn's argument is tense and his intellectual range wide. His book is an engaging intellectual synopsis, an aid to the reading of history and a warning to students and practitioners alike.' - Pater Calvocoressi, Times Literary Supplement