Thursday 10th June 14:00-18:00 BST.
Book Symposium on Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Before Midnight: A Philosophical Exploration, edited by Hans Maes (University of Kent) and Katrien Schaubroeck (University of Antwerp).
SYMPOSIUM PART I (14:00-15:45 BST)
Chair: Hans Maes
Romance, Narrative, and the Sense of a Happy Ending in the Before Series
James MacDowell
Epic Intimacy
Murray Smith
Love, Death and Life’s Summum Bonum: The Before Trilogy as Memento Mori
Anna Christina Ribeiro
RESPONDENT: Laura di Summa
SYMPOSIUM PART II (16:00-17:45 BST):
Chair: Katrien Schaubroeck
The Poetry of Day-to-Day Life
Michael Smith
‘Romantic or Cynic’: Romantic Attraction as Justification
Diane Jeske
Time and Transcendence in the Before Trilogy
Marya Schechtman
RESPONDENT: Pilar Lopez-Cantero
About the book
This new book, published by Routledge in their Philosophers on Film series, focuses on Richard Linklater’s celebrated Before trilogy. The trilogy chronicles the love of Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Céline (Julie Delpy) who first meet up in Before Sunrise, later reconnect in Before Sunset and finally experience a fall-out in Before Midnight. Not only do these films present storylines and dilemmas that invite philosophical discussion, but philosophical discussion itself is at the very heart of the trilogy. The book explores the many philosophical themes that feature so vividly in the interactions between Céline and Jesse, including: the nature of love, romanticism and marriage, sex and gender, the passage and experience of time, the meaning of life and death, the art of conversation, the narrative self.