Cultural apocalypses and psychopathological apocalypses

Abstract

This article is a translation of an essay that Ernesto de Martino wrote during the preparation of his monograph on apocalypse, published posthumously as La fine del mondo [The end of the world]. It provides an insight into his wider project and the complex theoretical apparatus he employed to explore the relationship between apocalypse, mental illness, and culture. Here, de Martino takes on the role of a “cultural clinician,” delving into the “cultural apocalypse” of contemporary Western literature and offering a first treatment of it vis-à-vis the “psychopathological apocalypses” arising in some forms of mental illness. Written sixty years ago, the essay and the larger project behind it are still breathtakingly current today.