Catharsis reconsidered: Gadamer and Jauss at the benchmark of a poetical category

Abstract

Catharsis is considered according to the interpretations of two contemporary thinkers: H.G. Gadamer and H.R. Jauss. According to Aristotle, it is the “purification” (katharsis) of “pity” (eleos) and “fear” (phobos). Gadamer is unsatisfied with the translations of the words eleos and phobos: for they describe the real involvement to the tragical representation. The spectator discovers the fragility of the human existential condition through the tragical fate of the hero. Jauss emphasizes how the audience find a standpoint from which events can be judged. Catharsis is a sort of reflective detachment. The interpretation of the story foreshadows the reconfiguration of our ethical values. Recognizing oneself through the identification with the other or exploring the distance between the other and oneself: they are different ways of understanding catharsis, integrable with each other as far as they are elements of an identification concerning all forms of storytelling.