Populist Improvisation

Abstract

Identification as the anti-establishment force, dedicated to restoring power to the powerless, bolsters the populists' public image. [...]professing an "aspiration . . . to dislodge the ingrained interests of the power-elite . . . as the re-embodiment of Saint George slaying the elitist dragon, [or] David defeating Goliath," enables them to win popular support in politics (Bufacchi). [...]an analysis can inspire similar studies with contemporary texts, bringing into critical conversation both the imaginative narrative of the text and the historical background of the context. [...]an in-depth analysis of Elizabeth's apotheosis - examined from a new historicist perspective through Marlowe's characterization of Tamburlaine - becomes relevant in the present context wherein populist leaders seem to have reached the limits of their charisma in the face of the global coronavirus pandemic. If there is nothing identical with the Other, improvisation is impossible;similarly, if there is nothing different in the Other, improvisation is unnecessary. [...]it is the partial resemblance with the outsider or alien that necessitates improvisation. [...]the improvised self always bears the marks of a certain amount of deformation and deterioration, resulting from the refashioning encounter with the Other.