SOURCE: "Fascism and Aesthetics: Joseph Goebbel's Novel Michael: A German Fate Through the Pages of a Diary (1929)," in Orbis Litterarum, Vol. 41, No. 3, 1986, pp. 213-28.

In the following essay, Saalmann uses Goebbels's novel Michael to illustrate parallels between fascist social and political principles and theories of aesthetics.

In a recent publication, Adolf Muschg, the Swiss author, literary critic, and Germanist, defines fascism as "the aesthetic façade of politics." He further elaborates by ascribing to 'aesthetic' fascism the phenomenon of "holistic phantasies foisted upon society." It is this attempt to artistically shape the masses with the intent of creating a new socio-political entity in terms of a Gesamtkunstwerk, or total work of art, that we shall concern ourselves with in this essay. It must be emphasized, however, that the question of fascism and aesthetics should not be construed as constituting an exhaustive analysis of the fascist movement. The artistic...