Brucia il classico alla prova del tempo
La Rivista di Engramma 215, agosto 2024
by Monica Centanni, Elena Sofia Capra, Michele Nardelli, Annalisa Lavoro, Federica Marinoni, Guido Morpurgo, Delphine Lauritzen, Martina Treu,
La Rivista di Engramma 215, agosto 2024
by Monica Centanni, Elena Sofia Capra, Michele Nardelli, Annalisa Lavoro, Federica Marinoni, Guido Morpurgo, Delphine Lauritzen, Martina Treu,
“Brucia il classico alla prova del tempo” (Burning classics in the test of time) is a title that projects an image charged with a double and antinomian energy. The classics that burn– in a literary, linguistic, archaeological, artistic, philosophical, and anthropological sense– bring into play not only the objects of study or reflection, but also the position, methods and commitment of those who study the classics or come into contact with these images and myths.The Cancel Culture movement – perhaps already on the wane – believes that the classics and the methods of teaching them in universities are a privileged instrument of cultural discrimination.They draw a distinction between us, who can recall the thought and art of ancient Greeks and Romans, and them, who cannot boast of the same ‘prestigious’ lineage. Many of the most important texts of those ancient cultures are imbued with politically incorrect thoughts and images and, by their dissemination in the history of science, lie at the root of all modern criteria of inferiority and exclusion of ‘others’: women, slaves, and barbarians, all perceived as non-Greeks on the basis of their language, as wallow’s chirp for the Greekear, skin colour, physical constitution, too wet or too dry. Is the burning of ancient books what the title suggests? Or, rather, does the title suggest a funeral pyre of interpretations accumulated over the centuries, which have forced the texts into a deliberate idealisation of everything– words, images, and artefacts – that comes to us from the Greeks and Romans?Is it the classics that must burn in the test of time, or the readings of the classics that ignite under the pressure of new questions?Are the classics, perhaps, by their very nature, fuel? But fuel for what? Perhaps the burning of the classics can make us think about the fuel needed to burn some thing else, or the fire that can burn those who approach this still-glowing matter. Issue 215 of Engramma delves into this theme. We have asked our contributors to respond to what thetitle suggests, each with their own approaches and modes.We have divided the issue into three parts. Section I: Essays; Section II: Material on the INDA performances at the Greek Theatre of Syracuse; Section III: Interviews, presentations, readings.
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