ARTICLES

AlI’inizio degli anni venti, George Calinescu, un giovane letterato rumeno (nato 1899) iniziava a Roma degli studi archivistici sulla propaganda cattolica nei principati rumeni e veniva in contatto con l’effervescente cultura italiana del tempo. Fra le opere che l’entusiasmarono si trovò anche Un uomo finito di Giovanni Papini. Lo tradusse in rumeno e lo pubblicò nel 1923 con una introduzione del più noto italianista rumeno della prima metà del secolo: Alexandru Marcu.

What is the significance of initiation in modem times and the role played by literature in conveying its rituals? Setting out from the concept itself, it may be useful to remember that initiation is a late Latin calque of in-ire and so the etymology reveals the condition of the individuai going into a reality, acquiring an inward knowledge of it. With the process of initiation the subject becomes in-dividual, undivided from his own principle. The initiatory epiphany consists therefore in a profound ontologica! mutation in the novice, who experiences a symbolic death, that is separation from his previous status and a new birth.

From a biological viewpoint flowers are the reproduction organs of plants and were attested as such in empirical science since the first botanical taxonomies of antiquity, but the human agents have domesticated many of the wild flowers and have used both the wild and the cultivated for a variety of purposes that divert flowers from accomplishing their biological role. Thus they can serve as nourishment, healing remedies, poisons, drugs, sources of color and perfume, objects of decoration, of worship, totems, and carriers of messages to other humans and to the divine.

Nothing brings more evidence to human resources and human misery than a moment of crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity to reflect on human nature through the microscopic lens of a virus. This unexpected event has shattered our conviction that complexity is a key to success. We have thought our strength is our versatile mind, the pinnacle of sophistication on the evolutionary scale that has enabled us to conquer the world and transform it to our needs. Well, a brainless primitive germ can do the same much faster and more efficiently. This imposes a re-consideration of our notions of natural power and human power

À la fin du XVIII-ême siècle, certains critiques anglais s’inspirent à la théorie de John Locke sur l’association des idées pour analyser les oeuvres littéraires. Les représentants de cette orientation appliquent les concepts de Locke dans un contexte culturel déjà lointain de l’empire de la raison, en tant que norme et valeur partagées, interessé en èchange à emphatiser l’approche subjectif à la realité, en repensant la littérature en fonction de l’imagination et du sentiment.

As known, for Aristotle the art of theatre, implying both the poetic text and the performance of tragedies and comedies, represents a mode of imitation (mimesis) (1447a). Pertinent to his own ethical and aesthetic assets, the philosopher ranks tragedy higher than comedy. In Shakespeare’s time the theatrical genres were more numerous and their distinction was not hierarchical. In Hamlet, Polonius ennumerates, “tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical-pastoral” (II. II. 424-5).

Nel saggio Pour une Science des religions, Michel Meslin ammette le difficoltà dello studioso del sacro nell’investigare un Altro assoluto, trascendente, conoscibile solo “per mezzo di sistemi di espressione teorici, concettuali, rituali o simbolici che per natura loro sono tutti dei linguaggi umani”. In altre parole, possiamo cogliere il sacro-oggetto solo di riflesso, nell’esperienza che ne fa l’uomo soggetto, perciò “il sacro si definisce come una relazione”.

Non-fabricated news: hurricanes and tornadoes devastate cities, eco-systems crash, oceans are saturated with plastic, climate has become unpredictable and hostile, food contains health damaging chemical components, detergents created to increase hygiene are polluting the environment, nuclear waste endangers life. Mother Nature is no longer the generous and protective divinity that enables human life to prosper. She has been completely de-sacralized, exploited and transformed by domineering humans, whose artificial culture has reached an alarming peak.

L’encyclopédie, devenue avec le dictionnaire un instrument inaliénable du traducteur de philosophie, était elle-même pendant des siècles une modalité de penser le monde, liée aux valeurs sémantiques et expressives du langage. Les encyclopédies contemporaines, avec leur haut degré de spécialisation, n’ont conservé que dans leur nom, dérivé du grec kyklos – cercle et paideié- instruction, l’idée de l’encyclopédie comme sphère complète du savoir, tandis que l’absolue neutralité de leur style leur permet de réunir dans une édition un nombre considérable d’auteurs.