Die Täter-Opfer-Debatte und die Schuldfrage: Eine (nicht nur) literarische Bilanz nach der Wende

The present contribution is mainly aimed at retracing some pivotal elements of the debate on “German collective guilt” in the last two decades of Germany’s cultural history. The search for truth about the past has complex implications; yet it is thanks to historians and writers, such as Wehler and Frei, on the one hand, and Sebald, Kempowski, Walser and Grass, on the other, that the problem of “collective sufferings” could be brought into sharper focus, including the loss of civilians due to air bombings against German cities. Dagmar Barnouw, an eyewitness to the bombings of Dresden, has therefore called for a “renegotiation” of collective guilt, critically facing what she has defined the supra-historical status of Auschwitz crimes. The semantic field articulated by terms such as “Last”, “Scham”, “Schande” as synonyms for “Schuld” testifies to strong emotional distress on the part of the subject, but also to an ongoing attempt to consciously or unconsciously overcome the obsession with memory, setting the future free from the past. Forms of real guilt removal or guilt usage for propaganda purposes between East and West Germany in the aftermath of WW2 are taken into account in the second part of the essay. And this not only to show the twofold stance of moral issues at stake, but also to identify the milestones of historical reconstructions in cinema, literature and theatre at the time when the trauma of the war was still recent

Interculturalità e Humanitätsgedanke: dalla prospettiva tardo-illuminista di Herder agli sguardi sull’Africa nel romanzo postcoloniale tedesco “Usambara” di Christof Hamann (2007)

As this contribution shows, the increasing production of German-language postcolonial novels over the last fifteen years has contributed to enhance the dialogue with the vast debate on cultural anthropology promoted by the European late Enlightenment, especially on issues of ethnicity and the ethical relationship to “otherness” as Humanität. Herder has proved a crucial interpreter of it. Explorations in East Africa have featured prominently in Christoph Hamann’s work. Before and after his novel Usambara (2007), he has shared with others the study of mountain symbolism as referred to the ascent of Kilimanjaro, focussing on the relationship between historical event, colonial propaganda and mythography. Going beyond the interest in exoticism and orientalism on the basis of Said’s reflections, German Studies have evolved towards a new appraisal of the intermediality which is inherently bound to the experiential interweaving of exploration, discovery and conquest in the former German colonie

La fulmineità dell’aforisma. Riflessioni sul ruolo della metafora nella teoria della conoscenza di Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

Grazie agli sviluppi del metodo sperimentale nell’ambito degli studi sull’elettricità nel Settecento e al crescente interesse pubblico per fenomeni che riguarderanno la neurologia nell’Ottocento, nel tardo illuminismo il campo metaforico legato all’elettricità entra ampiamente a far parte del discorso che concerne la creatività e l’esperienza sensibile dell’essere umano. Molti tra gli aforismi raccolti da Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742-1799) nei Sudelbücher sono riferiti a scoperte fatte nel campo dell’elettricità e a osservazioni sui fenomeni di luce e diventano occasione per fronteggiare l’eccesso di sistematicità del razionalismo cartesiano. Intuizioni ed “illuminazioni” sono tipiche della forma breve quale è l’aforisma. Riuscendo con singolare arguzia a creare associazioni di idee tra argomenti distanti e a usare in modo spregiudicato il linguaggio scientifico, Lichtenberg si serve di metafore per informare il lettore su un sapere in continua evoluzione e per combattere i luoghi comuni della religione, i pregiudizi e la superstizione

Nuclear factor E2-related factor 2’s activation in transgenic mice fed with dosage of saturated or unsaturated fatty acids using in vivo bioluminescent imaging

To counteract oxidative stress cells developed several mechanisms, including the transcription factor Nuclear Factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2). The aim of the study was to evaluate the activation of Nrf2 in transgenic mice fed saturated or polyunsaturated fatty acids and the anti-inflammatory effect of estrogens on organism. Forty-eight ARE CRE OMO reporter mice were divided into 3 groups, consisting of 16 animals, based on presence/absence of estrogens (ovariectomized or sham female, OVX - SH; male, MA). Each group was further split in 4 subgroups of 4 animals each and fed different diets (7.5% lard, 7.5% tuna oil, 20.0 % lard and 20.0% tuna oil). Two times a week animals were anaesthetized and injected i.p. with 100µL luciferin 15 min before the imaging session. Using the Living Image Software, photon emission was mapped for selected body areas. On day 70, animals were sacrificed after a challenge with Sodium Arsenite. Specific organs were dissected and immediately subjected to ex vivo imaging session. MIXED and GLM procedures of SAS software were used for statistical analysis. Dietary treatments did not affect body weight and feed intake as well as Nrf2 expression in both pre- and post-challenge phases, with the exception of the abdominal region (P=0.031 pre-challenge); in this area, during the pre-challenge phase, OVX showed lower Nrf2 activation (P<0.001). Ex vivo results outlined a significant effect of the challenge on all the considered organs (P<0.001), while OVX subjects had higher Nrf2 expression on urinary bladder and kidney (P<0.05) and high fat diet increased Nrf2 in urinary bladder (P<0.05). The present trial shows how saturated or polyunsaturated fatty acids supplementation in the diet do not exert significant effects on oxidative stress in mice, but confirms the protective role of estrogens under physiological condition

Interculturalità e Humanitätsgedanke: dalla prospettiva tardo-illuminista di Herder agli sguardi sull’Africa nel romanzo postcoloniale tedesco “Usambara” di Christof Hamann (2007)

As this contribution shows, the increasing production of German-language postcolonial novels over the last fifteen years has contributed to enhance the dialogue with the vast debate on cultural anthropology promoted by the European late Enlightenment, especially on issues of ethnicity and the ethical relationship to “otherness” as Humanität. Herder has proved a crucial interpreter of it. Explorations in East Africa have featured prominently in Christoph Hamann’s work. Before and after his novel Usambara (2007), he has shared with others the study of mountain symbolism as referred to the ascent of Kilimanjaro, focussing on the relationship between historical event, colonial propaganda and mythography. Going beyond the interest in exoticism and orientalism on the basis of Said’s reflections, German Studies have evolved towards a new appraisal of the intermediality which is inherently bound to the experiential interweaving of exploration, discovery and conquest in the former German colonie

Proserpina, la regina delle tenebre. Da Ovidio a Goethe

Consultando il Gründliches mythologisches Lexikon (1770) di Benjamin Hederich, dal quale Goethe attinse ampie informazioni per i suoi studi sulle antichità classiche, si trova, in riferimento a Proserpina (per i greci Persefone) il rimando all’etimo «proserpere», riferito all’emergere dalla terra del grano maturo, oltre che l’indicazione di altri nomi con cui essa è nota nell’antichità: Libera, Ecate, ma anche «Giunone dell’Oltretomba». È quest’ultima definizione che ci interessa, complici al..