Furio Jesi

Furio’s Furious Fragments & Friends - Furio Jesi (1941 Turin -1980 Genoa), enfant prodige moving between a plethora of disciplines – egyptology, history of religions, German philology, literary criticism - passed away prematurely, not without leaving bright fragments which throw light on mechanisms beneath many socio-cultural practices, for instance regarding cultural belonging, the functions of myth in modern society. He saw kind of “mythological machines” at work underneath our cultural production of meanings, historically determined, departing from a void, something that is still in culture but as residue, a missing link to an alleged authentic experience nowadays compromised up to the point to became just rhetoric, a byword, which is in no way neutral, but a tool, a macchina, for maintaining the status quo and serving the power apparatus. As in the case of holidays, celebrations and festivals.

This documentary explores the life and intellectual works of Italian long forgotten mythologist Furio Jesi. His extraordinary life-journey as an infant prodigy, a young archaeologist who dropped out of high school at 16 to travel around the Mediterranean, studying the myths of ancient cultures. During the ’60s he was involved in the communist uprisings in Italy while working as a freelance encyclopedist. He accepted a job at the University of Palermo, and he was the last professor appointed without any degree. His short life left a legacy of wonder in all those who met him. The movie explores also some of his outstanding philosophical concepts such as the “mythological machine” or the “wordless ideas”.