This article deals with Abel-François Villemain’s novel Lascaris. After summarising the work and analysing its proper cultural context – that is to say, European Romanticism – the author makes a comparison between the historical figure of Constantine Lascaris and Villemain’s character. What eventually emerges is an ideological convergence. Although Villemain was deeply influenced by the Romantic myth of Classical Greece, he did not fail to seize the real legacy Lascaris bequeathed to the West: the so-called prisca theologia, that is to say, an intellectual tradition that exalted the human virtus and rejected any form of theocracy.
L’articolo tratta del romanzo Lascaris di Abel-François Villemain. Dopo avere riassunto l’opera e avere analizzato il suo proprio contesto culturale – ovvero il Romanticismo europeo – l’autore compie un raffronto fra la figura storica di Costantino Lascaris e il personaggio di Villemain. Ciò che emerge in conclusione è una convergenza ideologica. Sebbene Villemain fosse profondamente influenzato dal mito romantico della Grecia classica, non mancò di cogliere l’effettivo lascito che Lascaris trasmise all’Occidente: la cosiddetta prisca theologia, ovvero una tradizione intellettuale che esaltava l’umana virtus e rigettava ogni forma di teocrazia.
Monticini, F. (2020). L’ultima nave bizantina. Costantino Lascaris, la prisca theologia e il Lascaris di Abel-François Villemain. LA RIVISTA DI ENGRAMMA, 174, 157-197.
L’ultima nave bizantina. Costantino Lascaris, la prisca theologia e il Lascaris di Abel-François Villemain
Francesco Monticini
2020-01-01
Abstract
This article deals with Abel-François Villemain’s novel Lascaris. After summarising the work and analysing its proper cultural context – that is to say, European Romanticism – the author makes a comparison between the historical figure of Constantine Lascaris and Villemain’s character. What eventually emerges is an ideological convergence. Although Villemain was deeply influenced by the Romantic myth of Classical Greece, he did not fail to seize the real legacy Lascaris bequeathed to the West: the so-called prisca theologia, that is to say, an intellectual tradition that exalted the human virtus and rejected any form of theocracy.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.