LE MASCHERE E I NEMICI DELLE APPARENZE. JEAN STAROBINSKI INTERPRETE DEL TOTALITARISMO

This paper analyses the motives and the contents of the research carried out by Jean Starobinski in the Forties on the theme of mask and simulation. After reconstructing the historical context and the theoretical intention of Starobinski’s essay Interrogatoire du masque (1946, republished 2015), the author examines the definition of the mask as an essential element of interaction between nature and culture. He then discusses the interpretation of modern culture as a project of demystification of appearances and search for true reality beyond the masks. Finally, the author shows that the investigation of problems of simulation and dissimulation is linked to the desire to understand the reasons for the success of totalitarianism. According to Starobinski, in the Twentieth century dictatorial regimes have used the rhetoric of authenticity to credit the mythical images of a human existence and a social order finally free of any simulation, or any artifice of appearances.