Topics

 

  1. ❖ Europe: the Land opposite


Resp.: Maria Stella Barberi


    The panel focuses on the different aspects—historical as well as cultural, religious, political and institutional—that have determined the mimetic nature of European identity.

Its title draws on a literary inspiration: from the very beginning of its history, poets have been moved by the ambiguous position of  Europe, as a “desired land”.

As a result, the Alexandrine author Moschus of Syracuse reinterpreted a myth about young Europe. In one of his poems, the enemy regions of Asia and West fight upon a girl called, indeed, Europa.

« Nelle sue stanze / Vergine ancor dormia la bella Europa, / Di Fenice la figlia. In sogno vide / Per sé far lite due regioni opposte. / Ambe di donne avean l’aspetto, e l’una / D’Asia parea, l’altra straniera. »1

Some centuries later, Dante in Inferno XIV suggests the image of the «land opposite» talking about Rome, seen by the «Old Man» of Crete as his own mirror:

« Dentro dal monte sta dritto un gran veglio, / che tien volte le spalle inver’ Dammiata / e Roma guarda come süo speglio. »2

When all is about possession and mimetic strife, myths and mythologems mark often the rhythm of politics and history.

Let us mention a few examples of mimesis in the history of the European identity: first, the conflict between paganism and Christianity during the III and IV centuries B.C. (Virgil’s Eclogue IV vs. Macrobius’ Saturnaliorum Convivia); then, the transition from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages through the relationship between Rome and Byzantium; further, the relationship between Papacy and the Empire; finally, the theological struggle between Reformation and Counter-Reformation. The secular counterpart of this last opposition is the fight between the State-Leviathan (Hobbes, 1651) and its archenemy, the Church of Rome.


1. Moschus of Syracuse, Idillyum II, Europe. We quote Giacomo Leopardi’s version. («’Twas at that hour which is the outgoing time of the flock of true dreams, that whenas Phoenix’ daughter the maid Europa slept in her bower under the roof, she dreamt that two lands near and far strove with one another for the possession of her. Their guise was the guise of women, and the one had the look of an outland wife and the other was like to the dames of her own country.» Cf. The Greek Bucolic Poets, Transl. by J. M. Edmonds, Loeb Classical Library, 28, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1912).

2. Dante, Divina Commedia, Inferno, XIV, ll. 103-105. («Within the mountain stands a huge old man. He keeps his back turned on Damietta, gazing on Rome as in his mirror», transl. Allen Mandelbaum).



  1. ❖ The Mediterranean Sea: What Are We Doing in Here?


Resp.: Riccardo Di Giuseppe



It has become fashionable to look at the Mediterranean as a sea bound to be a peaceful dwelling for the different peoples living along its coasts. This portrait risks becoming sheer rhetoric, if not balanced by a study of its real history. At the very dawn of civilization, the Mediterranean has been a huge and unique laboratory for experimenting sacrifice. From then on, the Mediterranean area has been a really hellish region. Let’s just remember the events not remote from us: two World Wars, the Spanish Civil War, the Cold War, the war in Algeria, the never ending conflict between Arabs and Israelis, the fighting between European and Islamic countries, not to mention the continuing tensions due to oil, immigration, and terrorism. Pretty awkward story for a peaceful place! From the archaic era down to our times, the apparent paradox can only be solved by the consideration that peace can make sense only where conflicts have already taken place.



  1. ❖ Revenge: Get Your Own Back!


Revenge, or vendetta, is the most perfect—almost didactic—example of mimetic violence.  Based on symmetrical imitation, revenge should definitely be the most straightforward way towards human destruction.

However, if ritualized, revenge is able to absorb violence itself, thus turning into a means to maintain social order. We may wonder whether this is the case with today’s international politics and economy. The panel aims to better understand the different aspects of the phaenomenon of revenge by investigating the historical and cultural traditions where it is not uncommon.



  1. ❖ Realism and Sacrifice in Figurative Arts, Literature and Cinema.


Resp.: Giuseppe Fornari


Without a doubt, the most distinctive feature of Western art is realism.

But what is realism?

Is it copying a natural, or metaphysical, reality? Or else, is it discovering a cultural and anthropological reality normally invisible?

An answer is provided by the mimetic theory, which suggests that behind realism there is sacrifice. It is the victimary mechanism which enables the human kind to see reality as it actually is. More particularly, in the Christian tradition the victim becomes the accomplished figura of realism in art. Victimary realism shows that the arts bear on a representative and cognitive potential, which Christianity has freed and used in unprecedented ways.