What is Nationalism? (by Néstor Cevasco)

With regard to the article ‘Satire Nationalism,’ written by Flavia, there is, in addition, a very clear explanation on what satire is, including a list of the most famous satirist writers. But, what is nationalism? To enlarge a bit on this concept, I picked up a text by G. Orwell, a modern satirist English writer, who refers to this matter in his article ‘Notes on Nationalism’. According to him, there are some remarkable aspects of this particular word which I will list as follows:

‘Nationalism is the habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit, placing it beyond good and evil and recognizing no other duty than that of advancing its interests.’

‘Nationalism is different from patriotism which is the devotion for a particular place or a way of living that one believes to be the best in the world but has no wish to force on other people.’

‘Nationalism, in the extended sense, includes such movements and tendencies as Communism, political Catholicism, Zionism, anti-Semitism, Trotskyism and Pacifism.’

‘Every nationalist is haunted by the belief that the past can be altered. In this sense, he spends part of his life in a fantasy world in which things happen as they should and he will transfer fragments of this world to the history books whenever possible (Orwell George;1945)

According to Orwell, it’s worth emphasizing that nationalist feeling can be purely negative. In this sense he quotes: ‘a nationalist is one who thinks solely, or mainly, in terms of competitive prestige. He may be a positive or a negative nationalist- that is, he may use his mental energy either in boosting or in denigrating- but at any rate his thoughts always turn on victories, defeats, triumphs and humiliations.’                                                  

 

The Images of Nations in Eighteen-Century Satire (by Flavia Lassati)

The English author and publisher Charles A. Knight wonders whether to see satire in the eighteen century as the ideological tool of nationalism or as a satiric fantasy: 

“Satire addresses history through the literary imagination and this combination of actuality and fantasy gives satiric nationalism conflicting potential functions. The satiric imagination may assemble the diverse features of nationalism, or it may question the unreal connections that nations assert. The satiric nationalism of the eighteen century exploits the vagueness of its terms. It considers a socio-political model with a literary form open to attack, but powerful in obtaining emotions. In its simple form satiric nationalism attacks other countries by manipulating local stereotypes. However, complex nationalism emerges when satire insists on the priority of universal human nature over the eccentricities of national character and interest. Complex satires explore conflicts and connections between local culture and universal humanity. The yoking of imaginative and historical discourses in satire is applied to nationalistic purposes that are questioned in value and changeable in meaning.”