The Life of Vico: A Career in Naples
The Life of Vico: A Career in Naples
This chapter describes Vico's descent from the timeless world of childhood to the underworld of a coma, from which he emerged as a child of Saturn, of Chronos, with the melancholic and acrid nature of a philosopher. Vico was transformed from a lively and restless child of fair disposition into a youth whose temperament is associated with ingenious and profound thinkers who, as Vico says, “through ingenuity flash like lightning in acuity, through reflection take no pleasure in witticism and falsity.” The cause of this transformation was Vico's fall, at the age of seven, headfirst from the top of a ladder to the floor. This fall fractured his skull severely, and he remained so long unconscious that the attending surgeon predicted he would either die or survive stolid.
Keywords: timeless world, childhood, Saturn, Chronos, restless child, fair disposition
Yale Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.