Dopo “Les aveux de la chair”

Abstract

Michel Foucault dedicated an essential part of Les aveux de la chair to the figure of the monk. From the 4th to the 7th century, the monks put in writing the experience of the desert. In this book, Foucault “criticizes” the genealogy he had previously advocated of the origins of confession and prepares a comeback to the modern age: «I have more than a draft of a book about sexual ethics in the sixteenth century, in which also the problem of the techniques of the self, self-examinations, the cure of souls is very important, both in protestant and catholic churches» (1983). This article examines the adaptations and translations into Italian of the Conferences of John Cassian (360-435) and John Climacus (579-649). In particular, it analyzes their inclusion in the most popular piece of Jesuits’ Exercises of perfection and their exclusion from the Pratiche of Paolo Segneri and Alfonso de’ Liguori.

Keywords

Cassian – The Avowals of the Flesh – Desert Fathers – Adaptations and Translations – Sleep and dream

DOI: 10.13131/2611-9757.suitefrancaise.n3.6