5.21 Cecilia Ricci – Il concetto di “classico” e la tradizione umanistica in George Steiner

Aim of the paper is to investigate the meaning of auctoritas of classics in George Steiner’s thought. According to him, the great masterpieces of humanistic tradition were the expression of Western culture because they were able to show the “real presence” of the Meaning. Because of this opening, human order kept his link with trascendent order. The “broken contract” between word and world, started with Mallarmè and Rimbaud and kept it up until deconstructionism, rappresented the beginning of the breakdown of the tradition.