Julia Ustinova

Proença, N. M. (Host)

CHAM - Centro de Humanidades

Activity: Hosting a visitor › Hosting an academic visitor

Description

Prof. Julia Ustinova accepted my invitation to travel to Portugal and to participate in the International Conference on Invention and Imagination, at the NOVA-FCSH's Campus of Campolide. Prof. Ustinova was prepared to travel to Lisbon when the October 7 events in Israel and the conflicts that resulted from them interrupted the TAP flights from Tel-Aviv. Prof. Ustinova, who deeply regretted the situation, maintained her intention to participate in the Conference and delivered a rich keynote talk that was followed by a generous debate on Inspiration during Greek Antiquity.

Period	14 Dec 2023
Visiting from	Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (Israel)
Visitor degree	Professor
Degree of Recognition	International

Keywords

Inspiration
Alteration of Consciousness
Greece
Philosopy
Religion
Poetry
Creation
Art

Documents & Links

Inspiration in Ancient Greece Yulia Ustinova, University Ben Gurion of Neguev. Many ancient Greek poets expressed the subjective feeling that their verses were prompted by a capricious external entity, and their creativity depended on divine possession called enthousiasmos. Good poetry was believed to emanate from the gods, both because the poet’s talent was perceived as an inborn divine gift, and because the creative process had to be initiated and sustained by the divine will. The inspiration of a gifted poet was contagious: his audience was also elated. Plato and Aristotle pondered the overpowering emotions aroused by an impressive performance, discussed the age-long ideas about the bewitching and therapeutic powers of music and poetry, developed these ideas systematically, and articulated the results of their inquiries. This view on the poet’s inspiration is congruous with accounts of several modern poets and contemporary studies of the creative process. In the poetic activities, we find a delicate interplay between personal and cultural memory and commemoration, on the one hand, and estrangement from everyday reality, together with mental exaltation and unique insight, on the other. In our terms, we may define enthousiasmos as an alteration of consciousness; for the Greeks, it was poetic mania.