At the sources of serial imaginaries: the ancient world and its legacies

The essay explores the relationship between serial production and the foundation of Western imaginaries. Starting from the theoretical assumption that the idea of space as a confrontation-clash between in and es (Lotman) is at the basis of collective cultural identity construction, the analysis follows the transformations of this conception in the classical and proto-Christian age, identifying in this period a moment of foundation of archetypes that will be decisive in the subsequent construction of Western, European and North American identity. The explosion of phases of accentuated seriality, also in relation to clashes between different media (starting with the Homeric case), according to a media conception referable to the Toronto school (Innis, McLuhan), are read as moments in which the serial device signals and formalises deep cuts with respect to the past and long-lasting proposals for the future.