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italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies Call for papers Pasolini and Fassbinder: the European legacy between utopia and nihilism An international conference Organisers: Alexis Nuselovici, Fabio Vighi (Cardiff University) Venue: Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, UK Date: April 24-26, 2009 Proposals for papers (approx 150 words) are invited on any comparative aspect of Pasolini’s and Fassbinder’s work, including the following (the list is indicative): * Class, race, sexuality * Religion * Anarchy * Revolution * Mythology * Nationalism * Cultural memory * Comedy and/or tragedy * Violence * High/popular culture * European dimension Pasolini and Fassbinder are amongst the last radical authors to have emerged in Europe. Born in Italy and Germany, they inherited a traumatic social and political past which they chose to address either directly or via different topics related to the cultural memory of Europe. The link between law and violence is, for instance, a central preoccupation in their works, illustrating what Georg Simmel called “the tragedy of culture”. This tragic dimension is reflected in their aesthetics through a number of similarly articulated and unresolved tensions: high and popular cultures, theatre, literature and cinema, ideology and narration, major and minor codes of expression. The uncompromising character of Pasolini’s and Fassbinder’s work, fluctuating between utopia and nihilism (but also tradition and revolution, mythology and realism) encourages us to reconsider subjective and collective questions which from today’s perspective seem lost forever. These questions are often unconsciously embedded in their work and require critical interventions aimed at locating them against the grain of conventional criticism. To only look at these questions in the context of the sixties and seventies and their climate of revolt misses the scope of the two authors’ creative undertakings. The cinemas of Pasolini and Fassbinder present a number of common features that have generally been neglected by commentators. Our conference aims to focus on these features, unravelling their potential to speak for a European identity to come. We believe that the comparison of Pasolini’s and Fassbinder’s cinemas might provoke us into asking difficult yet pressing questions such as ‘What is the European culture today?’ or ‘What does it mean to be European?’ Please send your proposals to Fabio Vighi [log in to unmask] and Alexis Nuselovici [log in to unmask] by 15th November 2008. Regards, Dr Fabio Vighi School of European Studies 65-68 Park Place Cardiff University CF10 3AS Cardiff, Wales UK Tel: 029 20875605 ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join italian-studies YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave italian-studies to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/italian-studies.html