28923 - Theory of Literature (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student possesses a heightened awareness of the specificity of literary language as a modality of the expression of the imagination and an instrument of interpretation of reality. The student possesses deep knowledge on the general concepts of literature; on the functioning of literary institutions; on the relationships between text and context; on the dynamics of literary communication; and on stylistic traditions, genres, modes, and forms of representation. The student knows how to interpret a literary text rhetorically, formalistically, stylistically, thematically, and ideologically. The student can elaborate autonomous reflections and formulate judgments on theoretical and methodological questions.

Course contents

Is There No Alternative? Capitalism and form of life

Capitalism, Mark Fisher wrote in a now cult book, is «very much like the Thing in John Carpenter’s film of the same name: a monstrous, infinitely plastic entity, capable of metabolizing and absorbing anything with which it comes into contact». Fredric Jameson already observed this in a seminal 1984 essay: the «cultural logic of late capitalism» erases the critical distance that was the foundation of modernity’s spirit, making it impossible to position oneself outside of (and thus also against) the «massive Being of capital». This Leviathan-like entity engulfs everything and manage to neutralize, by co-opting them to its own advantage, even countercultural forms of resistance or apparent opposition to the system. There is no alternative space beyond commodities and the market economy; it is impossible to stand outside of them. There is no longer an outside. Hence the now proverbial phrase, echoed by Fisher himself: it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. Perhaps, for the generations that grew up in the last decades of the Twentieth Century, alternatives were beginning to crumble amid the dystopias of real socialism but remained at least conceivable – up to the slogan of the anti-system movements that ultimately failed in the disaster of Genoa: «Another world is possible». However, for the generations of the Twenty-First Century, the only alternative horizon to capitalism truly appears to be the end of the world – the system’s self-destruction amid increasingly concrete apocalyptic scenarios: new wars, struggles for resources, climate catastrophes, and mass migrations.

This is actually the most recent – and potentially final – stage of a long-term systemic evolution analyzed by economic theorists ranging from Karl Marx and Max Weber to Fernand Braudel, Daniel Bell, Immanuel Wallerstein, and Giovanni Arrighi: capitalism as the form of our world, the source and matrix of our historical era. It is a pervasive and totalizing system that does not merely govern power relations and material structures, but has progressively colonized dreams, desires, aspirations, mentalities – every interstice of inner life and the cultural sphere. This phenomenon, which György Lukács referred to in relation to Balzac’s Lost Illusions as the «capitalization of the spirit», describes the subordination of all creative and intellectual activities (literature, theater, journalism, publishing) to the logic of the market and commodity – that is, the embryonic version of what we now fully define as «cognitive capitalism».

The course will attempt to explore these complex phenomena through the lens of literature, focusing on a small corpus of exemplary novels that have vividly depicted the forms of life shaped by capitalism in Western modernity. From the Paris of Balzac and Flaubert to the London outskirts portrayed by Zadie Smith, and through the American provinces described by Sinclair Lewis and Don DeLillo, the course will trace a historical and socio-cultural trajectory spanning from the nineteenth-century bourgeoisie to the postmodern middle class. This journey will test not only literature’s mimetic power – its ability to catalogue the world – but above all its critical and satirical tension, as well as its remaining potential for cultural resistance.

Period: Third cycle (February–March 2026)

Times, rooms, and start dates: Please refer to the teacher’s website under the «Teaching» section.

Readings/Bibliography

The syllabus is the same for non-attending students.

I. Narrative texts

Reading list to be determined (the professor is thinking and studying...)

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II. Critical and theoretical texts

• György Lukács, Balzac: «Les Illusions perdues», in György Lukács, Saggi su realismo, Einaudi, pp. 67-89
• Pierre Bourdieu, Flaubert analista di Flaubert. Una lettura dell’“Educazione sentimentale”, in Pierre Bourdieu, Le regole dell’arte. Genesi e struttura del campo letterario, il Saggiatore, pp. 55-100
• Fredric Jameson, La logica culturale del tardo capitalismo, primo capitolo di Fredric Jameson, Postmodernismo, ovvero La logica culturale del tardo capitalismo, Fazi, pp. 19-69
• Mark Fisher, È più facile immaginare la fine del mondo che la fine del capitalismo, Che succederebbe se organizzassi una protesta e venissero tutti?, Il capitalismo e il reale, first three chpaters of Mark Fisher, Realismo capitalista, Nero, pp. 25-57
• Shoshana Zuboff, Casa o esilio nel futuro digitale, introductory chapter of Shoshana Zuboff, Il capitalismo della sorveglianza. Il futuro dell’umanità nell’era dei nuovi poteri, Luiss University Press, pp. 13-34

Teaching methods

The course consists of approximately 30 hours of lectures, during which students will still be encouraged to participate and discuss the topics addressed.

Assessment methods

The exam consists of an oral test (20-30 minutes) that will assess the knowledge of the texts and the student’s critical and interpretative skills.

It is mandatory to read and carefully study all the texts listed in the bibliography, including the manual of Teoria della letteratura: specific questions may relate to general and theoretical categories, beyond the monographic topic of the course.

The exam will be divided in two parts:

1) Textual identification and analysis. As a first step, a short textual fragment (10-15 lines) taken from the narrative texts listed in bibliography (section I) will be submitted to the student, who must identify the text, the author, the date of publication, and must contextualize it with regard to the plot, the characters and the narrative situation. The positive outcome of this first step allows the student to access the next one. A partial of defective identification of the text allows to proceed anyway (but with a pass or “fair” mark), while a complete misunderstanding leads to the failure of the exam.

2) Critical questions. In the following step, the student must answer to some questions: a) About the critical texts (see bibliography, section II, groups A and B); b) About the literary or filmic texts (section I), questioned both in a notional and in a critical-interpretative way.

The exam will also assess the student's methodological awareness, the ability to master the bibliography in the course programme and the the field-specific language of the discipline. The ability to establish links between the theoretical framework and the texts will be especially appreciated. A wide and systematic knowledge of the texts, interpretative insight, critical understanding, and rhetorical effectiveness will be evaluated with a mark of excellence (27-30), while a mnemonic knowledge of the subject with a more superficial analytical ability and ability to synthesize, a correct command of the language but not always appropriate, will be evaluated with a “fair” mark (24-26). A superficial knowledge and understanding of the material, a scarce analytical and expressive ability will be evaluated with a pass mark (18-23) or a negative mark.

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities. It is necessary to contact the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en) with ample time in advance: the office will propose some adjustments, which must in any case be submitted 15 days in advance to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of these in relation to the teaching objectives.

Teaching tools

PowerPoint slides presentations will be used. For further teaching materials and non available texts, please visit the Professor's website and "Virtuale".

Office hours

See the website of Federico Bertoni