Abstract des Autors

The body is our most reliable, continuous and comprehensive metaphor. In Western culture, despite a Judaeo-Christian tradition which has 'privileged mind over body', the body is irrefutably present, requiring and demanding attention. Social scientists have tended to ignore it, philosophers have deprecated it and theologians have considered it an enemy of the soul. Nevertheless its representational power is permanent. The body is the repository of symbolic interpretation, a focus for the deepest prejudice and the source of personal and social identity. Cultural history should extend the study of history in order to come to terms with the power of images of the body in all its various settings. In this consideration of the Fascist body as a representative symbol of Prometheus Unbound, a permanent aspiration in history, the focus reflects the fact that the image of the 'New Aryan Body' of the Superman was not limited to 'the more restricted audiences for art', but was also projected on the sports field, in the military camp and through the youth groups, as well as the rally, festival and clinic. Verf.-Referat