POET PAGAN

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, 30 September 1927, Page 5

POET PAGAN

D’ANNUNZIO’S NEW BOMB. ITALIAN FURORE. London Sept. 19. Gabriel d’Anuunzio. Italian poet, aviator, monastic recluse and all-round firebrand has again startled Europe by one ot his periodic outbursts. He produdly announces that he has turned pagan, forsaking Christanity. which he recently espoused. A tragedy written by Him in 19-J4, La Figlia di Joi-io, has been performeu in a vast open-air theatre on the bank of Lake Garda, in the north of Italy. “This performance marks my return to paganism.” announces the poet, according to tno Paris correspondent of the “Daily News.” “My relapse into Christianity was merely an episode. lam no longer prostrate ut the feet of Sain Francis <1 ’Assist.” D’Annunzio, with hie latest bombsheel has temporarily replaced Mussolini as the most picturesque figure in Italy. The Italian press, comparing the furore accompanying the tragedy to the fuss made over the Dempsey-Tun-ney fight, draw the conclusion that the Fascist civilisation must bo superior to that of the Anglo-Saxon. Thousands of spectators travelled miles, end many perched on hill-tops in order to secure a distant view of the performance. D’Annunzio sprang into international pioniinonce when he forced the Italian Government and the Allies to acknowledge Iris capture—against the Government’s wishes—of Flume, on the Odriatic Sea. at the close of the war. Later, after various excursions into almost every conceivable form of notoriety and adventure, ho decided to retire to Finnic. From his loft castle seclusion there, like a distant god, lie issued fiery proclamations to the Italian people.