Gli effetti della demodernizzazione e della perdita d’individuazione nell’opera di Isabella Santacroce

Abstract

This paper aims to define the issue of identity and the problems raised by globalization in relation to the search for the Self. The sociological theories of Zygmunt Bauman and Alain Touraine, specifically concerning the loss of perception on the Self, together with the loss of any reference structures typical of
modern society such as family, sexuality and ethics, underpin the analysis. As Bauman points out in his works, postmodern society – or as he called it ‘liquid modernity’ – has a very strong impact on the postmodern subject, leaving him/her alone in the existential fight against the global and mass society. In this paper these theories find application in Isabella Santacroce’s works, specifically in the books where the main characters deal more evidently with the search for the Self as it collides with their families – in whom they do not recognize any morality, thus
attempting to find a respite from the sorrow of psychological uncertainty through the abuse of alcohol. Similarly, these young characters misuse sexuality by making the female body an instrument of domination. In this “post-human” perspective, the characters expose their social malaise by degrading themselves
in promiscuity and prostitution. Sexuality, on the other hand, also becomes the only chance to still enter into close contact with the other, a human contact that can bring love and a new dialogue.