Dispense VERIFICATO
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- Introduction to Kermode's *The Sense of an Ending***: Giovanni Maffei's article analyzes Frank Kermode's seminal work, aiming to clarify its core concepts and their inherent bivalence.
- The Apocalyptic Model: Kermode defines "apocalypse" beyond mere catastrophe; it encompasses ultimate Revelation and the "end of the world," carrying connotations of hope, triumph, and new beginnings. This dual nature (catastrophe for the unjust, salvation for the just) is essential. The model provides meaning to individual lives and historical narratives, addressing a deep human need for a sense of purpose and closure.
- Historical and Anthropological Context: The "apocalyptic model" is presented as a fundamental aspect of Western culture, rooted in biblical narratives (Genesis and Revelation). Simultaneously, it functions as a universal psychological and existential structure, offering meaning and comfort to humans across all eras and locations.
- Circular vs. Linear Time: Kermode distinguishes between classical, circular time (eternal recurrence) and Judeo-Christian linear time (a created world with a definite beginning and end, moving towards a telos). This distinction helps contextualize the model's persistence in modern thought.
- Kairos and Chronos: *Kairos* signifies "full time," rich with meaning and purpose, lending design to life. *Chronos*, conversely, is "one damned thing after another," representing raw, indifferent, and contingent succession. Novels, Kermode argues, strive to transform *chronos* into *kairos*.
- The Apocalyptic Model as Structure ("Tick-Tock"): The model is a two-part structure (beginning and end) linked by an interval, requiring "consonance" or harmony. The "tick-tock" metaphor illustrates minimal temporal fiction, where two seemingly identical sounds are perceived as distinct events, creating a meaningful interval and thus humanizing time.
- Elasticity and Adjustment of Expectations: The model's "elasticity" allows it to fit various narrative complexities. Human beings constantly "adjust their expectations," maintaining belief in an ultimate "tock" even when prophecies fail.
- "Crisis" and "Immanent Apocalypse": "Crisis" is a key modern concept, acting as a secularized form of eschatological anxiety. "Immanent apocalypse" describes a phenomenon where the End is diffused, chronicized, and experienced within individual destinies rather than as a singular, future event.
- The Risk of Myth and Skepticism: Kermode warns against the degeneration of "fictions" (imaginative constructs) into rigid "myths" that lose touch with reality and can lead to dangerous ideological consequences. "Skepticism" serves as a critical counterweight, preventing blind adherence to simplistic models.
- The Novel's "Two Masters": The novel operates under a dual mandate: satisfying the human need for meaningful form (*kairos*) while respecting the chaotic, contingent nature of chronological reality (*chronos*). Modernist writers, like Joyce and Beckett, often use irony to acknowledge the apocalyptic as a fiction, creating a productive tension with reality.
- Sartre's *La Nausée***: Sartre's novel is presented as a prime example of the conflict between contingency and narrability. Despite its philosophical denial of inherent order, the novel's artistic form inevitably imposes structure and meaning on a contingent world, demonstrating art's power to provide human satisfaction.