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New Conference: Apocalissi: Eschatological Imagination in Italian Culture, from Dante to the Present
Held Oct 9-10th in Cambridge. The conference brings together scholars of literature, art history, philosophy and religion in order to explore the wealth and complexity of Medieval and Early Modern apocalyptic thought in Italy and to assess its influence on Nineteenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-First century Italian culture to the present day.
Convenors
Pierpaolo Antonello (Department of Italian, University of Cambridge) Florian Mussgnug (Department of Italian Studies, UCL) Heather Webb (Department of French and Italian, Ohio State, USA)
Conference summary
In a time like the present, when apocalyptic visions are pervasive and dominant on a global level, a thorough reflection on eschatological imagination is imperative. Visions of the End of death and desolation, salvation and fulfilment have left an enduring mark on Italian culture, literature and thought. From its earliest origins in late testamental and intertestamental Judaism and in the final book of the New Testament apocalyptic discourse presents itself in a rich and distinctive style, with abundant use of symbols, allegorical figures, and rhetorical devices. In classical apocalypticism, these original modes of literary presentation are normally associated with a distinctive form of religious eschatology: a systematic and deterministic view of the course of history; an emphatic and intensely dramatic conception of the conflict between good and evil; a sense of the imminence of the End; the expectation of a messianic kingdom on earth and of life after death, including belief in the last judgement. For medieval and early modern Italian thinkers and writers, however, the rich heritage of apocalyptic discourse is not necessarily linked to such assumptions. As a key for the understanding of contemporary political and social events, apocalyptic scenarios are evoked in a variety of new contexts, both in support of the current political order and in the name of some proximate millennial state. Under the influence of new systems of knowledge and of technological and social change, classical apocalypticism further evolves into a predicament for the individual: anxiety over personal death and election becomes as important as the collective demand for a new social order. While Reformation theology strengthens this emphasis on individual matters, modern Catholicism also distances itself from naive forms of millenarianism, treating the End as immanent, rather than imminent.
For more information, please visit: www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/953/