Archaeologist, Germanist, philologist, literary critic, poet, translator and, above all, mythologist: Furio Jesi’s intellectual profile escapes any attempt of classification. Despite his premature death, Jesi left a vast production, which stands out both for the radicalism of its thought and for its variety. We find references to literary documentation, and especially to mythology, since his early studies on archaeology - see, for instance, his 1958 article devoted to ‘archetypal connections’. Later writings show a growing interest for the influence of mythology on modern literature (Letteratura e mito, 1968). In his essays on Novalis, E. Pound, Rilke and Pavese (among others), Jesi identifies the themes that reveal the spiritual orientation of each writer, such as, for instance, death, sacrifice, rites and magic. In other analyses, he aims at retracing the dominant ethical and political mythologies of a cultural context, as in the volume Germania segreta. Miti nella cultura tedesca del Novecento (1979). His relentless creativity led Jesi to engage in other genres, such as poetry and narrative (the novel L'ultima notte dates 1970, while the lyrical poems collection L’esilio was published in 1972), as well as in ‘dialogues’ with the philosophers (he devoted monographic volumes to Rousseau, Pascal, Kierkegaard) and the writers (Rilke, Brecht, Mann) who influenced his cast of mind and his literary taste. The notions of ‘technicalized myth’ and of ‘mythologycal machine’ are at the core of Jesi’s reflections. Calling into question and reworking some concepts introduced by his master – the mythologist and historian of religions K. Kerényi –, the scholar investigates the mythological devices from a perspective that is both epistemological and political, and shows how they have managed to survive and how they function in the present age. Jesi also devotes a peculiar attention to right-wing culture (Cultura di destra, 1979), whose communication modalities he defines – borrowing an expression by Oswald Spengler – “the language of ideas without words”. The exaltation of the ultimate sacrifice, the cult of death, the funerary symbolism and the attraction to the esoteric and the occult are, according to Jesi, its dominant themes. Given that the relationship between culture and power and the manipulation of the collective memory by media are still present-day issues, Jesi’s analytic approach may represent a useful tool to understand the evolution of our society and of its cultural consciousness. In fact, the dynamics of technicization of myths are still at work both in developing countries and in advanced Western democracies, as bears witness the disquieting spreading of political parties whose claims are based on self-styled, long-lost traditions, and whose arguments flourish with catchphrases and propagandist symbolism. On the basis of such premises, this monographic section is open to contributions studying modern and contemporary literary texts that can provide further insights on the evolutionary framework of the mythological machine theorized by Furio Jesi. Papers may focus also on literary works published prior to Jesi’s studies, in order to widen the research scope.

Archeologo, germanista, filologo, critico letterario, poeta, traduttore e, soprattutto, mitologo: il profilo intellettuale di Furio Jesi sfugge a qualsiasi tentativo di catalogazione. Malgrado la prematura scomparsa, Jesi ci ha lasciato una produzione che si distingue tanto per la radicalità del pensiero che per la varietà di interessi. Anzitutto l’archeologia, dove già si ritrovano frequenti ricorsi alla documentazione letteraria e, soprattutto, alla mitologia (esemplare l’articolo del 1958 dedicato alle "connessioni archetipiche"). Evoluzione naturale di questi primi studi è l’attenzione crescente nei confronti dell’influsso della mitologia entro l'ambito letterario moderno: da Novalis a E. Pound, passando per Rilke e Pavese (Letteratura e mito, 1968). La sua indagine procede attraverso l'individuazione di temi rivelatori dell'orientamento spirituale del singolo scrittore, quali, ad esempio, la morte, il sacrificio, la festa, la magia, fino alla ricostruzione complessiva delle mitologie etico-politiche dominanti in un determinato contesto culturale, come nel volume Germania segreta. Miti nella cultura tedesca del Novecento (1979). Lo spirito irrequieto di Jesi si spinge, inoltre, fino alla sperimentazione poetica e narrativa (al 1970 risale il romanzo L'ultima notte, mentre del 1972 è la raccolta di liriche L’esilio) e il dialogo, conservato nelle monografie ad essi dedicate, con i filosofi (Rousseau, Pascal, Kierkegaard) e gli scrittori (Rilke, Brecht, Mann) che hanno influenzato la sua forma mentis e la sua sensibilità letteraria. Al centro delle riflessioni di Jesi troviamo i concetti di «mito tecnicizzato» e di «macchina mitologica». Rielaborando e mettendo in discussione alcune considerazioni del suo “maestro”, il mitologo e storico delle religioni K. Kerényi, lo studioso torinese ha affrontato i materiali mitologici da un punto di vista epistemologico e nello stesso tempo politico, cercando di mettere il luce il funzionamento e la sopravvivenza di questi materiali nell’attualità. Attenzione peculiare viene rivolta alla cultura di destra, le cui modalità comunicative sono definite da Jesi, riprendendo una formula di Spengler, «il linguaggio delle idee senza parole», e della quale sono posti in evidenza ed esaminati i principali nuclei tematici: l’esaltazione del sacrificio estremo così come di una gerarchia razziale o spirituale, il culto della morte e la simbologia funeraria, l’attrazione verso l’esoterismo e l'occultismo. In una realtà contemporanea che vede tornare prepotentemente d’attualità temi quali il rapporto tra cultura e potere e la manipolazione della memoria collettiva attraverso i media, l’approccio analitico di Jesi rappresenta ancora un valido strumento per comprendere l’evoluzione della nostra società e della sua coscienza culturale. Le dinamiche di tecnicizzazione del mito risultano, infatti, tuttora attive trasversalmente tanto nei paesi in via di sviluppo quanto nelle più progredite democrazie occidentali: ne è chiara testimonianza l’aumento inquietante delle manifestazioni di rivendicazione politica, i cui promotori inneggiano a sedicenti tradizioni perdute, rafforzando le proprie argomentazioni con slogan e simbologie propagandistici. Ci si propone pertanto di studiare analiticamente testi letterari moderni e contemporanei, che appaiano emblematici allo scopo di contribuire a completare il quadro evolutivo della macchina mitologica iniziato da Furio Jesi. L’attenzione può essere rivolta anche a opere del periodo antecedente all’oggetto delle ricerche di Jesi, al fine di ampliare ulteriormente le prospettive d’analisi.

Furio Jesi

VISINONI, Alessandra Elisa;
2015-01-01

Abstract

Archaeologist, Germanist, philologist, literary critic, poet, translator and, above all, mythologist: Furio Jesi’s intellectual profile escapes any attempt of classification. Despite his premature death, Jesi left a vast production, which stands out both for the radicalism of its thought and for its variety. We find references to literary documentation, and especially to mythology, since his early studies on archaeology - see, for instance, his 1958 article devoted to ‘archetypal connections’. Later writings show a growing interest for the influence of mythology on modern literature (Letteratura e mito, 1968). In his essays on Novalis, E. Pound, Rilke and Pavese (among others), Jesi identifies the themes that reveal the spiritual orientation of each writer, such as, for instance, death, sacrifice, rites and magic. In other analyses, he aims at retracing the dominant ethical and political mythologies of a cultural context, as in the volume Germania segreta. Miti nella cultura tedesca del Novecento (1979). His relentless creativity led Jesi to engage in other genres, such as poetry and narrative (the novel L'ultima notte dates 1970, while the lyrical poems collection L’esilio was published in 1972), as well as in ‘dialogues’ with the philosophers (he devoted monographic volumes to Rousseau, Pascal, Kierkegaard) and the writers (Rilke, Brecht, Mann) who influenced his cast of mind and his literary taste. The notions of ‘technicalized myth’ and of ‘mythologycal machine’ are at the core of Jesi’s reflections. Calling into question and reworking some concepts introduced by his master – the mythologist and historian of religions K. Kerényi –, the scholar investigates the mythological devices from a perspective that is both epistemological and political, and shows how they have managed to survive and how they function in the present age. Jesi also devotes a peculiar attention to right-wing culture (Cultura di destra, 1979), whose communication modalities he defines – borrowing an expression by Oswald Spengler – “the language of ideas without words”. The exaltation of the ultimate sacrifice, the cult of death, the funerary symbolism and the attraction to the esoteric and the occult are, according to Jesi, its dominant themes. Given that the relationship between culture and power and the manipulation of the collective memory by media are still present-day issues, Jesi’s analytic approach may represent a useful tool to understand the evolution of our society and of its cultural consciousness. In fact, the dynamics of technicization of myths are still at work both in developing countries and in advanced Western democracies, as bears witness the disquieting spreading of political parties whose claims are based on self-styled, long-lost traditions, and whose arguments flourish with catchphrases and propagandist symbolism. On the basis of such premises, this monographic section is open to contributions studying modern and contemporary literary texts that can provide further insights on the evolutionary framework of the mythological machine theorized by Furio Jesi. Papers may focus also on literary works published prior to Jesi’s studies, in order to widen the research scope.
curatela (fascicolo speciale/monografico)
2015
Visinoni, Alessandra Elisa; Ferrari, Riccardo; Tabacchini, Marco
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10446/56443
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