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Notes from Underground

  And, indeed, I will ask on my own account here, an idle question: which is better—cheap happiness or exalted sufferings? Well, which is better?---Fyodor Dostoevsky ---Notes from Underground Fyodor Dostoevsky ---Notes from Underground Even now, so many years later, all this is somehow a very evil memory. I have many evil memories now, but ... hadn’t I better end my “Notes” here? I believe I made a mistake in beginning to write them, anyway I have felt ashamed all the time I’ve been writing this story; so it’s hardly literature so much as a corrective punishment.  Why, to tell long stories, showing how I have spoiled my life through morally rotting in my corner, through lack of fitting environment, through divorce from real life, and rankling spite in my underground world, would certainly not be interesting; a novel needs a hero, and all the traits for an anti-hero are expressly gathered together here, and what matters most, it all produces an unpleasant impression, for we are...
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Hope

To be human is to be a miracle of evolution conscious of its own miraculousness — a consciousness beautiful and bittersweet, for we have paid for it with a parallel awareness not only of our fundamental improbability but of our staggering fragility, of how physiologically precarious our survival is and how psychologically vulnerable our sanity. To make that awareness bearable, we have evolved a singular faculty that might just be the crowning miracle of our consciousness: hope.-- Erich Fromm


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LENI RIEFENSTAHL DIE NUBA (The Last of the Nuba)





Art vs. Ideology

Die Nuba

"An aesthetic of purity, strength, and physical perfection—photographed through the lens of a former propaganda pioneer."



From 1962 till 1977 Leni Riefenstahl had been living as the first white woman with a special permission issued by the Sudanese government in the remote valleys of the central Sudan among the mysterious Nabu tribes, had studied their way of life and recorded it on film in pictures of unusual fascination for eternity. Particularly the circumstance that through the advance of civilization the Nuba's way of life is approaching its irreversible end is giving these picture documents a unique anthropological, ethnological and cultural-historical importance.

For thousands of years Nuba have occupied most of what is known today as Kordofan Province. But because of successive attacks by various Arab tribes who invade Sudan in 16th century on wards, they retreated to the mountains of South Kordofan which became their permanent homeland and took the name of "Nuba Mountains". During the British rule in Sudan (1896 -1956) the Nuba Mountainsregion was a separate province with its own administration and its capital at Talodi until amalgamated in 1929, into the larger Kordofan. It then remained a 'closed district' until shortly before independence in 1956.



The Publications

Riefenstahl's work was split into two distinct volumes, each capturing different subgroups and aesthetic moods.

1973

Die Nuba (The Last of the Nuba)

  • ●Focus:Mesakin Nuba of Kordofan.
  • ●Themes:Agrarian life, athletic wrestling, funeral rites.
  • ●Tone:Romanticized, elegiac, and peaceful.
  • ●Philosophy:An "uncorrupted" society in harmony with nature.
1976

Die Nuba von Kau

  • ●Focus:Southeast Nuba of Kau.
  • ●Themes:Abstract body painting, violent stick-fighting.
  • ●Tone:Highly stylized, dramatic, and aggressive.
  • ●Philosophy:Intense focus on youth, vigor, and ritual combat.



Who are the Nuba?

The Nuba people who live in the geographical centre of Sudan are the largest of many non-Arab groups in Northern Sudan and are the descendent of Kush kingdom of 8th century. They are in fact an amalgam of dozens of different tribes with different cultures and languages.

Since the outbreak of the civil war in 1983 there have been living in the central Sudan in the Kordofanian province in the Nuba mountains still between 8,000 and 10,000 Masakin Quisar Nuba of different language groups and far from any civilization out of all Nuba tribes counting about half a million people all together. 






 The Nuba - Who are they?









First Exhibit. Here is a book of 126 splendid color photographs by Leni Riefenstahl, certainly the most ravishing book of photographs published anywhere in recent years. In the intractable desert of the southern Sudan live about eight thousand aloof, godlike Nuba, emblems of physical perfection, with large, well-shaped, partly shaven heads, expressive faces, and muscular bodies which are depilated and decorated with scars; smeared with sacred gray-white ash, the men prance, squat, brood, wrestle in the arid sand. And here is a fascinating layout of twelve black-and-white photographs of Leni Riefenstahl on the back cover of the book, also ravishing, a chronological sequence of expressions (from sultry inwardness to the grin of a Texas matron on safari) vanquishing the intractable march of aging.


https://gemini.google.com/share/f81cf46b3b34

"Fascinating Fascism"

Susan Sontag’s 1975 essay argued that Riefenstahl’s Nuba work was not a departure from her Nazi-era propaganda, but a continuation of a "Fascist Aesthetic."


Riefenstahl's Defense

"I was driven by a love for the Nuba and a desire to document a disappearing lifestyle."

  • • Humanitarian motivation
  • • Awareness of Nuba persecution
  • • Universal artistic pursuit of beauty

Anthropological Critique

"She turned a complex culture into an aesthetic commodity for Western consumption."

  • • Decontextualization of history
  • • The "Tourist Gaze" exoticization
  • • Fueled destructive cultural tourism


Fascinating Fascism >>>








The first photograph was taken in 1927 when she was twenty-five and already a movie star, the most recent are dated 1969 (she is cuddling a naked African baby) and 1972 (she is holding a camera), and each of them shows some version of an ideal presence, a kind of imperishable beauty, like Elisabeth Schwarzkopf’s, that only gets gayer and more metallic and healthier-looking with old age. And here is a biographical sketch of Riefenstahl on the dust jacket, and an introduction (unsigned) entitled “How Leni Riefenstahl came to study the Mesakin Nuba of Kordofan”—full of disquieting lies.

Fascinating Fascism Full PDF >>>










Background

In 1962, at the age of 60, Leni Riefenstahl traveled to the Nuba Mountains in central Sudan. She had become fascinated by a photograph of a Nuba wrestler taken by George Rodger. Over the next fifteen years, she made several return trips, living among the tribes (the Masakin-Qisar and later the Nuba of Kau) and learning their languages.

The project resulted in two major photographic volumes:

  1. Die Nuba (The Last of the Nuba, 1973)

  2. Die Nuba von Kau (The People of Kau, 1976)







The Two Tribes

The Masakin (The "Gentle" Nuba)

Riefenstahl portrayed the Masakin as a peaceful, agrarian society. Her work here focused on:

  • The Wrestling Match: This was the central social pillar. Men did not wrestle for prizes, but for the honor of their villages.

  • The Harvest: She documented the rhythmic labor of gathering grain, presented as a communal, joyful activity.

  • Physical Perfection: She sought out the most physically fit specimens, reinforcing her lifelong obsession with the "heroic" body.







Aesthetic Characteristics

Riefenstahl applied the same technical perfectionism to the Nuba that she had applied to the 1936 Olympic athletes.

  • Heroic Perspective: She frequently shot from low angles, making her subjects appear monumental and "statuesque."

  • Focus on the Body: The images emphasize physical strength, ritual wrestling, intricate scarification, and vibrant body painting.

  • Color and Light: Using Kodachrome film and the dye-transfer process, she captured intense, saturated colors that contrasted the deep skin tones of the Nuba with the blue sky and red earth.

  • Primitivist Ideal: She portrayed the Nuba as a "people from another planet," untouched by the corruption of modern "civilization."















"Fascinating Fascism"

The most famous critique of the work came from American intellectual Susan Sontag in her 1975 essay, Fascinating Fascism. Sontag argued that Riefenstahl had not changed her worldview, only her subject matter.

Key Points of Critique:

  • Fascist Aesthetics: Sontag argued the books celebrated Nazi-adjacent ideals: the cult of the beautiful, the worship of the strong over the weak, and the "orgiastic" focus on physical prowess and victory in combat (wrestling/knife-fighting).

  • Decontextualization: Critics noted that while Riefenstahl photographed "pure" beauty, she ignored the political reality of the Nuba, who were at the time facing pressure from the Sudanese government to Arabize and clothe themselves.

  • Objectification: Anthropologists criticized her for treating the Nuba as aesthetic objects rather than a complex society. She was accused of "staging" scenes and creating a "museum of the mind" that did not reflect the tribe's actual daily life.













Technical Execution and Equipment

Riefenstahl approached photography with the same cinematic rigor she used as a director.

  • The Leica System: She predominantly used Leica cameras (M-series and later SL-series) known for their sharp lenses and portability in extreme conditions.

  • Kodachrome Film: She utilized Kodachrome 64 and 25, which offered the high contrast and saturated color required to capture the deep skin tones and the vivid blue Sudanese sky.

  • Dye-Transfer Process: Many of the prints for her books were made using the expensive dye-transfer process, allowing her to manipulate color saturation to a degree that gave the images a hyper-real, almost otherworldly quality.









 



Legacy and Modern Perspective

  • Historical Record: Because the traditional culture of the Nuba was later devastated by the Sudanese Civil War, these photos remain a vital, albeit controversial, visual archive.

  • Reputation: The Nuba books allowed Riefenstahl to achieve "artistic rehabilitation" in the 1970s, though she remained a polarizing figure until her death in 2003.

  • 2024 Digitization: A recent joint German-Sudanese project has digitized 10,000 of her images. Modern Nuba intellectuals have expressed a mix of resentment at her "colonial gaze" and gratitude for the preservation of their ancestors' faces and traditions.



















Analysis: "Fascinating Fascism" by Susan Sontag

Originally published in the New York Review of Books in 1975, "Fascinating Fascism" serves as a definitive critique of the "fascist aesthetic" and a warning against the de-politicization of art.

1. The Critique of Leni Riefenstahl

The essay was prompted by the publication of Riefenstahl’s book of photography, The Last of the Nuba, and her subsequent rehabilitation in the 1970s as a "pure artist" concerned only with beauty. Sontag argues that Riefenstahl’s post-war work is a direct continuation of her Nazi-era propaganda:

  • The "Triptych" of Fascism: Sontag identifies a continuity between Riefenstahl's early "mountain films," her Nazi documentaries (Triumph of the Will and Olympia), and her Nuba photographs.

  • The "Disquieting Lies": Sontag systematically deconstructs Riefenstahl’s claim that she was a mere technician or "apolitical" artist. She points out that Triumph of the Will was not just a documentary of a rally, but a rally staged for the camera.

  • Aesthetic Continuity: Sontag argues that the fascination with the Nuba—focused on their physical perfection, wrestling rituals, and "primitive" purity—is a repackaging of the same fascist obsession with strength and the "victory of the stronger" found in her Third Reich films.













Defining "Fascist Aesthetics"

Sontag moves beyond Riefenstahl to define the characteristics of a fascist aesthetic that can exist even outside of a fascist state:

  • The Cult of the Leader: A preoccupation with a "god-like" leader and a submissive, anonymous mass.

  • Physical Perfection: An obsession with "ideal" bodies—strong, healthy, and "pure"—while rejecting anything perceived as weak, intellectual, or "degenerate."

  • The Dramatization of Power: A focus on grandiose, rigid patterns (marches, rallies, displays of force) and the "rendering of movement in grandiose and rigid patterns."

  • The Romanticization of Death: A "pop-Wagnerian" obsession with self-sacrifice, heroism, and the "purity" of the struggle.













The "Fascinating" Aspect

The "Fascinating" in Sontag's title refers to the seductive power of these aesthetics in contemporary culture. She notes that by the 1970s, the "trappings" of fascism had been sexualized:

  • Eroticism and Domination: Sontag analyzes the rise of "SS regalia" in pornography and subcultures, arguing that the relationship between the uniform and power has a sexual origin.

  • Camp and Neutralization: She warns that viewing fascist symbols through the lens of "Camp" or irony—treating them as "just a look"—neutralizes their historical horror and makes the underlying ideology more palatable.













The Nuba are a diverse group of over 50 ethnic communities inhabiting the Nuba Mountains in the South Kordofan province of Sudan. While they speak dozens of different languages and practice various religions, they share a distinct cultural identity rooted in the rugged, rocky landscape they call home.













Cultural Identity and Traditions

The Nuba are world-renowned for their vibrant cultural expressions, which emphasize physical strength, aesthetic beauty, and communal bonds.

  • Nuba Wrestling: This is more than a sport; it is a central social ritual. Young men compete to bring honor to their villages. It is deeply tied to the harvest cycle and is accompanied by music, dance, and elaborate body decoration.

  • Body Art: Historically, body scarring and painting with ochre, charcoal, and white clay were used to signify status, age sets, and tribal affiliation. These patterns often mimic the geometry found in their environment.

  • Music and Dance: Rituals are almost always accompanied by the kambala dance—where dancers wear buffalo horns and cowbell belts—symbolizing the strength of the bull and the connection to the land.














Modern History and Conflict

The Nuba people have faced immense challenges due to their geographic position on the fault line between northern and southern Sudan.

  • The Civil Wars: During the Sudanese civil wars, the Nuba Mountains became a major theater of conflict. Many Nuba joined the SPLM/A (Sudan People's Liberation Movement) in pursuit of religious and cultural autonomy.

  • Humanitarian Resilience: Despite decades of aerial bombardments and blockades, the Nuba have maintained a fierce pride in their heritage, often relocating their schools and hospitals into mountain caves to survive.














Philosophies of Resistance

The Nuba identity is heavily defined by the concept of "Urru," or the ancestral spirit of the land.

  • Cosmology: Despite the influence of Islam and Christianity, many Nuba maintain a traditional belief system centered on a "Rainmaker" or Shaman who mediates between the community and the spiritual world to ensure the fertility of the soil.

  • The Mountain as Sanctuary: Throughout history—from the slave raids of the 19th century to the modern civil wars—the mountains have been viewed not just as geography, but as a protective entity. This has fostered a culture of extreme self-reliance and a "cynical" view of outside intervention that doesn't respect local autonomy.





















































GEORGE RODGER


















Leni Riefenstahl | Artnet


WHERE THERE’S A WILL The rise of Leni Riefenstahl >>>






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