Ideology, transcendent values and flying saints

This essay starts with a theoretical reflection about ideology and the proposal of an analytic method applied to narrative texts. It then focuses on a case study connected to a category of values inspired by an idea of transcendence that often finds figurative expression in the theme of flight. This theme and its underlying values are explored first in the Christian–Catholic hagiographic–mystical literature and then in a sample of contemporary artworks that re–elaborate the religious theme of levitation or mystical flight from a secularized perspective. The transcendent values identified in the narratives under consideration are then contextualized in a more universal human quest for lightness, intended as a value underlying a widespread utopia based on the ideal to break free from the weight of the world.