Ricerc@Sapienza

POLISH DANTISM: BETWEEN EPIC AND ETHICS

In Plato’s Theaetetus Socrates ties wonder and knowledge in a binding knot when he defines wonder as “the only beginning of philosophy” and acknowledges it as a distinctive feature of the philosopher. Aristotle associates wonder with understanding and underlines that both of them are pleasurable as is wisdom. In the Metaphysics the Stagirite links this passion to man’s basic drive for learning and truth, while emphasizing that it possesses both an emotional and a cognitive meaning.

Aristotle’s definition of wonder in the Metaphysics points to man’s basic drive for learning and truth, for understanding natural phenomena and their causes. From this perspective Aristotle’s words call attention to the capacity for wonder built in human nature as the necessary passion that inspires the desire to know in man, who is naturally a contemplative being. These ideas are fundamental to understand wonder and its development across the centuries.

The present work aims to analyze the symbolic image of queues, contextualized within the same geographic area (Egypt) but represented in two different historical moments: 1952 and 2012. The historical frame is provided here by two narrative works, a short story and a novel, both entitled al-Ṭābūr (The Queue) by two Egyptian writers, respectively Yūsuf Idrīs (1927-1991) and Basma ‘Abd al-‘Azīz (1976). The paper will try to provide preliminary but meaningful insight into the political (if it is so) and figurative meaning of queuing as portrayed by the two authors.

The emergence of Science fiction in Arabic (al-khayyal al-'ilmi) can be traced back to the second part of the 20th century: this literary genre has elaborated themes and images that switches among the fantastic, the marvelous and the utopian and whose seeds belong to classical Arabic literary heritage. al-Khayyal al-'ilmi was also undoubtedly influenced by the most recognized ouvres of English Science fiction. This paper will focus on the “places” – broadly speaking – where al-Khayyal al-'ilmi met Science fiction.

Il saggio interroga la letteratura europea e occidentale fra medioevo e primo Ottocento alla ricerca di una "storia" dell'amore come tema e come destino.

This article presents a thematic outline of the cultural and literary relations between Italy and Iran from the 16th century to present. It focuses on the translation of key-works from Persian into Italian and vice-versa.

The emergence of Science Fiction in Arabic can be traced back to the second part of the 19 th century, but this genre has often been neglected by critics and academics. Nowadays we can recognize an increasing popularity of this literary production, with a large number of publications from Egypt, Lebanon, and even Yemen and Saudi Arabia. In last April the literary panorama of the Arab world has been upset by the releasing of a novel, surprisingly coming from Saudi Arabia.

Contemporary writers are used to exploring the “quest for eternal life” theme, al-khulud (immortality), by resorting to the elixir vitae as well as to hibernation and reincarnation, for instance, in order to express the neverending human struggle for overcoming the limits imposed by time. This quest permeates many novels which are pivotal for the emergence of science fiction in Arabic literature. In fact, it is now possible for scholars to underline the existence of a particular type of novel within the science fiction’s genre, i.e.