Original scientific paper

From the sea to deep space. Te Leviathan in Herman Melville, Stefano D'Arrigo and Howard P. Lovecraft

Andrea Franzoni ; Faculty of Theology of Emilia Romagna (FTER)

Abstract

The modern faith in progress has always combined with some form of criticism. Artists and writers have often employed their visionary skills to offer a large number of critical reflections about the modern project. Through the Biblical Leviathan - an incarnation of primaeval chaos and at the same time the apocalyptic monster who fights against God and his angels at the end of time – Herman Melville, Stefano D'Arrigo and Howard P. Lovecraft assert the impossibility, for the man, to save himself with his own strength. As a symbol of the beginning and end of history, the Leviathan represents the threat of emptiness, both in the sense of a lack of meaning for history and the possibility of a new creation ex nihilo. Urged by the problems of their times, these three contemporary authors summon the Leviathan as the possibility to create a new order in the World: an attempt whose only possible outcome is a failure.

Keywords

Leviathan; monster of chaos; sea; death; emptiness; evil; creation; éschaton; meaning of history

Hrčak ID:

115416

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/115416

Publication date:

30.1.2014.

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