Kore a Capri. Un piccolo mistero rilkiano

Abstract

Rilke was in Capri between December 1906 and May 1907. This Italian journey was the occasion for developing a new insight in nature and history, landscape and memory, through a series of experiences that may be recognized as ‘mystery’ in the ancient esoteric sense of the eleusine rituals studied by Karl Kerenyi a few years after Rilke’s more orphic or mystery works. The “figura” of this experience is “Kore”, the young girl, daughter of Demeter and wife of Hades, and her different “Erscheinungen”. Basing on his classical memories, animated by his aesthetic and poetic pursuit of a dynamic trace that may express the Unspeakable, pervaded by the strong impressions due to nature, the people, the myths and rituals of the Island of Capri, Rilke develops a metamorphic image of Kore-Nymph with a series of mystery attributes that will flourish in the later phase of Duino.