Strive for Autonomy and Wasted Youth: Tightrope Individualisms at the Threshold of Adulthood

A seminar by Stefano Rosignoli (Film Studies) as part of the School of Creative Arts Research Forum.

Abstract:
The purpose of this presentation is to contend that a strive for autonomy also underlies many cinematographic narratives of disaffection and rebellion, and to offer a few guidelines on their historical development, beginning from Paul Goodman’s suggestion, in Growing Up Absurd (1960), that the malaise of the growing generation was a reaction against the “blurring of the object”, which is to say “a system in which little direct attention is paid to the object, the function, the program, the task, the need; but immense attention to the role, procedure, prestige, and profit” (2012, 7-8). In so doing, the presentation aims to introduce the audience to the inspiring sources, methodology of analysis and film screenings discussed during a series of events which Rosignoli convenes in the School of Creative Arts at Trinity College Dublin and which, together with his teaching duties, represents his contribution to the activities of the department.
About the speaker:
Stefano Rosignoli received an MA in Modern Literature (2006) and an MPhil in Publishing Studies (2008) from the University of Bologna. He worked in publishing for several years before focusing on his PhD, which he completed at Trinity College Dublin (2024). His academic training is grounded in textual studies at large, from philology to genetic criticism, integrated with formalism, structuralism and the semiotics of the text, and his main field of enquiry is the philosophical exogenesis of Irish literature in English.

The School of Creative Arts Research Forum meets weekly on Mondays from 10am-11am in the Neill Lecture Theatre in Trinity Long Room Hub. The aim of the Forum is to provide a space for School researchers, both staff and postgraduate students, to share their ideas in an informal and supportive environment. It is also an opportunity for the School to hear about the research of colleagues both from within TCD and from outside the university who share our research interests. In line with the research agenda of the School, talks encompass traditional research and practice-based research.

Please indicate if you have any access requirements, such as ISL/English interpreting, so that we can facilitate you in attending this event. Contact: weiyi@tcd.ie