What, when & where
SOVRIMPRESSIONI
Between Genres, Intermediality, Transmediality
In recent years, exchanges and, more generally, relationships between new and old media played an increasing role in the artistic, visual, and literary production, as well as in the critical debate.
In fact, the wider idea of intermediality flanked the well-established concept of intertextuality. Intermedial research perspectives focus on the interconnection between different modern media: from cinema to music, from visual art to photography, from videogames to graphic novels, and so forth. Within this methodological framework, recent scholarship increasingly investigated intermedial relations from both a theoretical and a textual point of view, aiming at an exploration of the intertwining between digital and traditional media, and at the aesthetic results of such intersections.
The wide range of interdisciplinary issues related to the concept of intermediality encourages a variety of critical approaches to this topic. Taking into account Irina O. Rajewsky’s categories (Rajewsky 2002), the conference will investigate some of the most relevant intermedial perspectives: medial transposition (the way in which a media product is translated into a different one); medial combination (the mash-up of two or more media in order to create a new product); intermedial references (as, for example, ekphrasis). Also, further attention will be placed on the concept of transmediality (Jenkins 2006), namely the strategy of unfolding and expanding a story across different media (such as a film saga continued through novels and comics, as in the case of the “Star Wars” franchise).
The conference also aims at discussing a further type of intersection, that is, the one between genres (mainly literary, but also cinematic). From classical literatures to the twentieth century, the intersection between genres has proved an ever-evolving phenomenon. With regard to the classical age, one may think of the interaction of lyrical genres in the sung sections of Attic drama (cf. Rodighiero 2012), or of the so-called “Kreuzung der Gattungen” in the Hellenistic age, or of the combination of different literary forms found in several Latin works, such as the Satyricon (see, among others, Conte 20072); with regard to the modern and contemporary ages, one may consider such instances of literary intersection as prose poetry and verse novel, or, more generally, other instances of hybrid literary forms (cf., e.g., recent monographic issue of «Ulisse» 21, 2018).
The conference also sets out to examine how the same topic is treated across different literary genres (e.g. novel, literary/artistic translation, essay-writing, and poetry).
We welcome contributions from different research fields (literary – ancient, modern, and contemporary –, musicological, artistic-visual, theatrical, cinematographic).
Contributions may address, but are in no way limited to, the following issues:
– Hybridization of forms and intersection between genres (literary, artistic or visual), from antiquity to today.
– Intermedial phenomena between disciplines (e.g. Literature and Cinema, Music and Theatre, etc.) and intermedial references (e.g. èkphrasis, or the organization of a work around another medium: e.g. painting for Retablo, music for Le Benevole, etc.).
– Phenomena of hypermediation, postmediality, transmediality.
Deadline & how to apply
The conference is organized in the framework of the PhD course in Philology, Literature and Performing Arts and will be held at the University of Verona in the first half of May (the exact date will be announced at the beginning of November); the two-day event will be divided into sessions, each one opened by a keynote speaker.
We welcome abstracts from PhD Students and Post-Docs. We encourage proposals for presentations of twenty minutes to be delivered in Italian. Those interested in participating should submit an abstract of max 400 words and a short bio-bibliography by 15 November 2020 to the following e-mail address: sovrimpressioni2021@gmail.com.
Notice of acceptance will be notified by e-mail by 15 December. No conference fees will be charged. Travelling, accommodation and subsistence expenses will have to be covered by speakers themselves. The host institution will provide the social dinner on the first day and lunch on the second day for all delegates.
Other info, Links & conditions
Conference proceedings will be evaluated for a publication.
Organizing Committee: Profs Paolo De Paolis, Massimo Natale, Giuseppe Sandrini; Drs Federica Barboni, Fatima El Matouni, Giulia Perosa.
Scientific Committee: Teaching Committee for the PhD in Philology, Literature and Performing Arts (https://www.dcuci.univr.it/?ent=organo&cs=818&id=900).
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