Bio
Georgios Katsantonis graduated in Theater Studies from the University of Patras (Greece). He specialized in Litterature, Writing, and Theater Criticism at the University of Naples “Federico II”. He obtained, with honors, a doctorate in Literature and Modern Philologies at the “Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa”. In 2021, his doctoral thesis won the thirty-seventh edition of the Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Prize. He recently published a monograph on Pasolini entitled Anatomy of Power. Pasolini playwright vs Pasolini philosopher, Editions Metauro. Other contributions relating to Pasolini’s literature are published in the international journals “Studi Pasoliniani”, “Annali d’italianistica”, and in the cultural journal “Scenari” by Mimesis Edizioni. He has been invited as a speaker at numerous national and international conferences.
From the Geographical Dimension to the Ecological Perspective in Pasolini’s Literature and Film
The environmental aspects in Pasolini’s work go far beyond Pasolini’s famous «Firefly Article». These aspects take shape, above all, in his interest in the transformation of the space, that is of the Italian environment controlled by a new, “permissive” fascism, a “Power without a face” that is the “worst kind of totalitarianism”. The poet and writer focuses on the period of the so-called economic boom, which hit Italy after World War II. The consumer society, according to Pasolini, apocalyptically appears as a “new fascism”, whose “purpose is the brutally totalitarian reorganization and homologation of the world”. As mentioned, this “Power”, as well as homologating the consciences of the Italians, according to the writer, also destroyed irreversibly the agrarian and peasant space of pre-industrial Italy. Pasolini’s works can be critically analyzed as “recorders” of the dangers that modernity and rapid social trasformation create in the relationship between humanity and nature. Therefore, a large amount of his work addresses the landscape which was contaminated by the neo-capitalist homologation, always portrayed in relation to city structure and urban development. Petrolio, in particular, insinuates a dystopian future making use of the major topic of dramatic actuality, that of the energy crisis and speculation on energy sources. Ample space is dedicated to the ecological drama in the many descriptions in the novel, indicating strong ecological thoughts in support of nature/biodiversity conservation. The objectives of this contribution include the possibility of a new reading of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s poetry, literature, and cinema under an ecocritical light, which presupposes an evaluation of his work that takes into account the relationship which the author determines between the individual of his own time and the surrounding environment, redefining the balance between literature and landscape.