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Atlas of the European Novel 1800-1900
01 Jan 1998-
TL;DR: Moretti as mentioned in this paper explored the fictionalization of geography in the nineteenth-century novel and found that space may well be the secret protagonist of cultural history, in a series of one hundred maps, alongside Spanish picaresque novels, African colonial romances and Russian novels of ideas.
Abstract: In a series of one hundred maps, Franco Moretti explores the fictionalization of geography in the nineteenth-century novel. Balzac's Paris, Dickens's London and Scott's Scottish Lowlands are mapped, alongside the territories of Spanish picaresque novels, African colonial romances and Russian novels of ideas, in a path-breaking study which suggests that space may well be the secret protagonist of cultural history.
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TL;DR: Literature is the art form of the nation-state as discussed by the authors, and the written word was at the peak of its influence from the Enlightenment until late in the 20th century.
Abstract: Literature is the art form of the nation-state. The written word was at the peak of its influence from the Enlightenment until late in the 20th century. National literatures became central to the development of national identities and the formation of national art worlds. Moreover, they were important vehicles for the exchange of ideas. However, the central position of the nation-state has dwindled due to the centrifugal effects of globalization and regionalization. Simultaneously, literature has given way to other, mainly visual and digital, cultural forms. In the process, it has lost much of its political clout. Literature seems to pose little or no threat to those groups it may previously have worried, and is of little consequence to elites in the 21st century. Instead, it has become an object of cultural consumption, for dwindling and aging publics.
17 citations
TL;DR: Moretti's distinctive contribution to the field has been his attempt to apply Bourdieu's ideas to the sociological field as discussed by the authors, which has led to the development of a sociological sociologist of literature.
Abstract: Since the death of Pierre Bourdieu, the leading contemporary sociologist of literature has arguably been Franco Moretti. Moretti’s distinctive contribution to the field has been his attempt to appl...
17 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose to define space in terms of lexical categories denoting objects, which leads to a method for literary archaeology, informed by cognitive theory and anthropology.
Abstract: In this paper I propose to reconsider theories of diegetic space that rely on explicit framing (i.e., "two people walk into a room" or "in Spain"). Rather than looking for maps, I define space in terms of lexical categories denoting objects. The emphasis on objects leads to a method for literary archaeology, informed by cognitive theory and anthropology. If the universe is made of atoms, a fictional world is also made up of atomic relationships that form basic, stable configurations, or what I call narratological primes . I construct several such basic spatial buildings blocks here— diegetic density and clutter distance . Their application to a well-explored body of nineteenth-century novels challenges several long-standing historical intuitions related to the development of material culture in the nineteenth century.
17 citations