10/07/2025 11:00
- 12:00
HALL: Seminar Room 06
Proponent:
Moro C.,
Valeriani E.
Chair:
Valeriani E.
Speaker:
Caruso F.,
Moro C.
«Throughout the history of our species, sacred fiction has dominated human existence like nothing else (...) The heroes of sacred fiction do not respect the barrier between the pretend and the real. They swarm through the real world, exerting massive influence» (Jonathan Gottschall).
The narrative traditions of biblical figures have been much investigated by scholars who used the concept of Rewritten Bible referring to a specific interpretative literature in antiquity and late antiquity. The large number of Jewish and Christian texts that never became scriptures are evidence of the existence of different traditions and worldviews earlier, contemporary, and later than the biblical narratives: in no case can we speak of secondary literary products, but rather of prevailing literary traditions, whose choice must undoubtedly have been linked to the ideas of the authors and their expected audience. The purpose of this panel, then, is to attempt to understand, through the analysis of the narrative's details that tell the story of a specific character, what prompted different redactors, biblical and non-biblical, to choose one version over another, and how and to what extent the worldviews of the different users of the texts influenced the transformation of existing literary traditions. This analysis is ultimately aimed at identifying the genesis and development of these narratives, taking into account the historical context and the literary and ideological backgrounds.