Perseus and Medusa: between Warburg and Benjamin*

Alice Barale

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ming the Middle Ages’ resignation, trying to turn destiny to his favour. A symbol
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important role is given not so much to Perseus, but rather to the beaten mon7
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redemption in art. This interpreta7
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of Perseus this is maybe not exactly – or ra7
ther not only – the point. A signal of that is
the unexpected sympathy for Medusa, that
comes out from the consideration of Per7
seus’ violence. Perseus beheading Medusa
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period, to the brutality of another hero, the
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this Renaissance medal.

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pole of navigation, and of the myth of Perseus, the stars, appears in another text
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II.

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He suggests him as a reading to his children, he recalls his novels in relation
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A questionable system of grottoes and caverns that by imperceptible stages ten7

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it can be none other than humor. Keller’s gentle and melodious laughter is as
much at home in these subterranean vaults than Homer’s in the heavenly ones.
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in another note of the Arcades Project9

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(5",5))%5The Severed Head: Capital Visions65

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Medusa’s severed head. The severed head becomes here the symbol of the open
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senting originates actually as a reaction to the mother’s loss, that the baby ex7
periences as a psychological state. And it is this loss that the severed head – the
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and Aufhebung are only the rest.

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ring seemed merely the most perfect of signet
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and contemplating the head against the light.

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le and the Collège de sociologie5B-5)(5.".5)&&#,5gomoC85)15#(5 /-5.5
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and hypnotic eye.

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And some more years later, in his essay
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its chaos and its loss of sense – the same
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antiquity the dialectical image discovers in7
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English abstract

#à5 &5 (.,)65 )'5 î5 ().)65 &5 -!!#)5 1,/,!"#()5 -/5 &44)5 "# ()#65 &5 ŀ!/,5 #5 ,-)5
sembra diventare sempre più importante nel periodo del ricovero a Kreuzlingen. E ancora l’ultima

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(().4#)(5"5,/,!5&-#5*)"5),5*,#'5#5'),#,5,#.95^,-)5)5-..#5(,!.#5
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($'#(5gohn
85($'#(65Ursprung des deutschen Trauerspiels65.,85#.8585#&#**#(#65/,#(5DgohnE5gomg8

($'#(5goho7gojf
85($'#(65Das Passagen-Werk, en. tr. The Arcades Project65',#!5B
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($'#(5goig
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($'#(5goih
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($'#(5goio
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,.)44#5hffl
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ō5ŕŢຊō5Őŕ5ŚœŞōřřō5R5ȘȗȜ5R5ōŜŞŕŘő5șȗȘȚ5R5 5Șȟșȝ5ȠȗȘŤ55555‘5555599
Alice Barale ,-/-5(5 /-95.1(5,/,!5(5($'#(

&0#()5gonk
85&0#()65Lezioni americane. Sei proposte per il prossimo millennio65 #&()5DgonkE5gonn:5(85.,85Six
Memos for the Next Millennium65',#!5B
C5gonn8

,,#5gomj
J. Derrida, Glas65,#-5gomj8

-#,#5hffo
85-#,#65Sur la polarité entre “esthésique” et “poïétique”, Une analyse du Discours sur l’esthétique de
Valéry65^","-50&ï,3((-_65hf5BhffoC65o7jh8

##7/,'(5hffi
85##7/,'(65Images malgré tout65,#-5hffi8

)&&#,5gomo
85)&&#,65Le collège de sociologie65,#-5gomo8

,/,5golf
85,/,65Theory of Film. The Redemption of Physical Reality65,#(.)(5goom8

,#-.05goon
J. Kristeva, Vision Capitales, en. tr. The Severed Head: Capital Visions6515),%5hfgh:5.,5#.85La
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1(5hffj
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M. Pratz, La carne, la morte e il diavolo nella letteratura romantica65 #&()5hffn8

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&ï,35goin
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Alice Barale ,-/-5(5 /-95.1(5,/,!5(5($'#(

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8785,((.65La mort dans les yeux. Figures de l’autre en Grèce ancienne, trad. it. La morte negli occhi.
Figure dell’altro nell’antica Grecia65)&)!(5gonm8

,/,!5


85,/,!65Warburg Institute Archive, London.

,/,!5gofm

85,/,!65Francesco Sassettis letzwillige Verfügung65.,85#.85 85"&,#65#(5
85,/,!65Opere,
0)&85 65/,#(5hffj65jhk7jnj8

,/,!5gohh

85,/,!65Italienische Kunst und internationale Astrologie im Palazzo Schifanoia zu Ferrara, in
L’Italia e l’Arte straniera. Atti del X Congresso Internazionale di Storia dell’Arte, 191265)'5gohh:5
trad. it. in Opere650)&85 65/,#(5hffj65kgk7kkk8

,/,!5gohi

85,/,!65Nachtrag zu Alfred Dorens Vortrag “Fortuna im Mittelalter und in der Renaissance”, in
“Per monstra ad sphaeram”. Vortrag in Gedenken an Franz Boll und andere Schriften 1923 bis 1925,
-585.#'#&&#5(585*)"&65 /(#"5DgohiE5hffn8

,/,!5gohj

85,/,!65Schicksalmächte im Spiegel antikisierender Symbolik65#(585.#'#&&#6585*)"&5B5
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