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MATER OF TRANSFORMATION.
POIESIS AND AUTOPOIESIS IN OVID’S METAMORPHOSES, BENVENUTO
CELLINI’S VITA AND PIER PAOLO PASOLINI’S PETROLIO
by
Paolo Matteucci
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(COMPARATIVE LITERATURE)
August 2008
Copyright 2008 Paolo Matteucci
Object Description
| Title | Mater of transformation. Poiesis and autopoiesis in Ovid's Metamorphoses, Benvenuto Cellini's Vita and Pier Paolo Pasolini's Petrolio |
| Author | Matteucci, Paolo |
| Author email | paolomat@usc.edu |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Comparative Literature |
| School | College of Letters, Arts and Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2008-02-25 |
| Date submitted | 2008 |
| Restricted until | Unrestricted |
| Date published | 2008-07-23 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Pinkus, Karen |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Giorgi, Gabriel Fogu, Claudio Rosenthal, Margaret |
| Abstract | In this project, I develop a comparative reading of Ovid's Metamorphoses (c.8 CE), Benvenuto Cellini's Vita (c.1558) and Pier Paolo Pasolini's Petrolio (1975). These literary works belong to three eras in which Western culture faced crucial processes of geopolitical expansion, and they are all deeply concerned with the problem of transformation. On a thematic level, these narratives depict the transmutation of three precious substances (respectively: earth, gold and oil) into living products. On a structural level, these texts appear to embody continuous transformation because they defer their points of beginning, they present themselves as never-ending achievements, and they draw their readers into recursive signification loops that constantly renegotiate the boundaries between the textual 'inside' and 'outside.' Adopting a number of theoretical frameworks that range from Goux's analysis of economic value to Agamben's philosophical thought, and from Serres’s reconsideration of physics to Irigaray'sphilosophy of fluids, I argue that these three literary works do more than challenge the conventional binary opposition between materiality and transcendence. In my view, in fact, these narratives subvert the structural isomorphism that links the functioning of truth, financial value, and the phallus as Western culture's main master signifiers.; Scrutinizing the transformative dynamics that the Metamorphoses, the Vita and Petrolio engage, I also argue that these texts function as autopoietic organisms. In Maturana and Varela's frame, autopoiesis is the fundamental feature that distinguishes all living systems, and it corresponds to the capacity a system has to produce its new components while retaining its topological unity. In my views, the three literary works perform autopoiesis because, while they maintain an invariant structural unity through their written bodies, they capture in their narratives the mechanisms of signification that are produced by their readers. This suggests that, once it is considered to function as an autopoietic producer of signification, any literary text can be conceived of as a living organism. |
| Keyword | poiesis; autopoiesis; Ovid; Metamorphoses; Cellini; Vita; Pasolini; Petrolio |
| Coverage date | circa 0008; circa 1558; circa 1975 |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m1386 |
| Rights | Matteucci, Paolo |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | http://www.usc.edu/isd/libraries/services/ask_a_librarian/email/ |
| Filename | etd-Matteucci-20080723 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume17/etd-Matteucci-20080723.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Full text | MATER OF TRANSFORMATION. POIESIS AND AUTOPOIESIS IN OVID’S METAMORPHOSES, BENVENUTO CELLINI’S VITA AND PIER PAOLO PASOLINI’S PETROLIO by Paolo Matteucci A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (COMPARATIVE LITERATURE) August 2008 Copyright 2008 Paolo Matteucci |
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