Eternity, Resurrection and Judgement Day: The Enigma of Time in 15th Century Italian Sacred Dramas and Early Modern English Mystery Plays

ABSTRACT: Medieval and Early Modern mystery plays and sacre rappresentazioni on Resurrection, Emmaus and Judgment Day often worked as a multilayered inquiry into the different qualities of Sacred and Profane time. This paper investigates the possible mediation these performances enabled between eternity and finitude, coping with the problematic translation of hidden, sacred truths into a discourse able to both educate and entertain the audience.

Riccardo Antonangeli is currently post-doc researcher in Comparative Literature at “Sapienza” - University of Rome where he teaches Modern and Contemporary English Literature and Critical Methodologies. His favorite research topics are narratology, philosophy of time, the intersections between history and narrative, and the reception of classical myths in medieval and modern literature.