«Potenze del destino» e «disintossicazione del tragico» in Aby Warburg

Abstract

In the years following his psychiatric condition, Warburg approaches Ovidio's poetry with the intent to disclose, underneath its graceful levity, the sense of classical tragedy lying at its heart. Surprisingly, in the reflections of these years, this tragical dimension turns out to be rather embodied by Orpheus than by Dionysius. An element of discontinuity between Warburg and Nietzsche thus emerges, which could be consequential for their very concept of "tragic" as well as of "image". This short essay sets out to emphasise such a discontinuity and to explore its wider implications.