| This study is based on the correspondence between R. V. Cristaldi and A. Parente that appeared in the Rivista di Studi Crociani (The Journal of Crocean Studies). The topic of the exchange of letters between the two was a "a small philological query" arising from the muddled citation by Benedetto Croce of one of Warburg’s sayings on the occasion of a conference held in 1948 at the Istituto per gli Studi Storici di Napoli. According to Croce, it was a certain Wartburg who maintained that "Gott ist im Detail". Parente’s attempts to justify or correct the master’s quotation, served merely to compound the confusion. He failed to mention Croce’s recent review (1946) of Seznec’s "La survivance des dieux antiques" (The survival of the ancient gods), and he recalled an imaginary dinner which took place in 1933 at Croce’s home at which Warburg, or rather what must have been Warburg’s ghost as he had been dead for four years, was a guest. The explanations and researches of the more reliable Cristaldi restore the integrity of the Croceans, even though they are not sufficient to fill the lacunae which have significantly affected the way Aby Warburg’s thought has been received and assessed in Italy. |