Lo specchio rotto del Liebeskonzil: un caso di blasfemia nell’Impero guglielmino

In 1895, due to the publication of the play Liebeskonzil, the writer Oskar Panizza was sentenced to one year imprisonment for blasphemy. Starting with such exemplary conviction, the essay reconstructs some aspects of the writer's existential and creative path, treating his vitriolic satires of religion as an access key to the political and social situation during the Wilhelminian Empire, where press laws and targeted use of crimes such as lèse majesté, obscenity and profanity, highlight the tenacity of Government, right-wing parties and Catholic Centre Party in pursuing the common purpose of silencing the opponents of the status quo.