Author: Jari Padoan
30 years of βBram Stoker's Draculaβ
Francis Ford Coppola's monumental film dedicated to the famous figure of the Count, released in theaters thirty years ago, managed to frighten and excite audiences around the world, thanks to its powerfully visionary style and the intensity of actors such as Gary Oldman and Anthony Hopkins in the lead roles. But in addition to the undeniable originality with which the "myth" of Dracula is reworked, did the film really respect a fidelity to the novel, as promised by the title? And how many particular references, allusions and influences can be traced in the scenes of this horror still fascinating and complex today?
Considerations on the question of hierolanguage in the Middle Ages (II)
In its millennial path, medieval Christian philosophy finds itself facing the issues of the creation of the universe through the divine Word, of the Adamic language and of the post-Babelic confusion to which the multiplicity of human languages ββis attributed. Despite the dogmatic adherence to the biblical canon and to the fundamental Platonic and Aristotelian references, important contributions to this study will come on the one hand from the esoteric doctrine of Judaism, the Kabbalah, on the other from the work of Dante Alighieri.
Considerations on the question of hierolanguage in the Middle Ages (I)
The true origin of verbal language is a mystery that is lost in the mists of the most remote past of mankind. This universal and transversal theme (which is linked to that of the arcane power of the word and in particular the evocation of Divine Names) in Western civilization has been the subject of speculative and theological reflection since the times of Greek philosophy, maintaining its centrality also in the philosophical culture of the Christian Middle Ages.
Viruses, Vampires and Zombies: The Pandemic Theme in Modern Fantastic
Already present in classic works such as the Iliad and the Decameron, the theme of the pandemic apocalypse has been exploited and investigated in recent centuries especially in the field of the Fantastic, in fiction as in cinema: from EA Poe to Conan Doyle, from Meyrink and Lovecraft to Richard Matheson and Stephen King; and again, on the big screen, by directors of the caliber of Bergman, Romero, Carpenter, Cronenberg and Gilliam.
Edgar Allan Poe, singer of the abyss
Unknown in life, Edgar Allan Poe saw his genius fully recognized only after his untimely death, as happened later also for HP Lovecraft, who followed in his footsteps: today, almost two centuries after his death, Poe is considered an author more unique than rare in narrating the unusual, in exploring the greatest and atavistic terrors of man, in recalling the lost beauties of ancestral times.
