Overview

The first English translation of a classic work of twentieth-century anthropology and philosophy.   A philosopher, historian of religions, and anthropologist, Ernesto de Martino (1908–65) produced a body of work that prefigured many ideas and concerns that would later come to animate anthropology. In his writing, we can see the roots of ethnopsychiatry and medical anthropology, discussions of reflexivity and the role of the ethnographer, considerations of social inequality and hegemony from a Gramscian perspective, and an anticipation of the discipline’s “existential turn.” We also find an attentiveness to hope and possibility, despite the gloomy title of his posthumously published book La Fine del Mondo, or The End of the World. Examining apocalypse as an individual as well as a cultural phenomenon, treating subjects both classic and contemporary and both European and non-Western, ranging across ethnography, history, literature, psychiatry, and philosophy, de Martino probes how we relate to our world and how we might be better subjects and thinkers within it. This new translation offers English-language readers their first chance to engage with de Martino’s masterwork, which continues to seem prescient in the face of the frictions of globalization and environmental devastation.

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9780226820576

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Reviews

“De Martino was well ahead of his time. Since his death we have witnessed the rise of medical anthropology, reflexivity, ethnographic film, ethnomusicology, and phenomenology. The time is now ripe for this translation of La fine del mondo to appear.” * Charles Stewart, University College London *

"“De Martino was well ahead of his time. Since his death we have witnessed the rise of medical anthropology, reflexivity, ethnographic film, ethnomusicology, and phenomenology. The time is now ripe for this translation of La fine del mondo to appear.” * Charles Stewart, University College London * ""The publication of The End of the World offers a fascinating glimpse into the workshop of one of the most interesting figures of the Italian intellectual scene in the 20th century. It is also a book that has become timelier since the author’s death."" * New Statesman *"

Author Information

Ernesto de Martino (1908–1965) was an Italian anthropologist, philosopher, and historian of religions. Dorothy Louise Zinn is professor of sociocultural anthropology at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano. She has translated two of de Martino’s other books: The Land of Remorse: A Study of Southern Italian Tarantism and Magic: A Theory from the South.

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