«Griseldaonline», vol. 26 (2027) | CfP: «Data, Methods & Interpretations»

Until a few decades ago, it seemed clear which critical schools were competing within literary studies. I sette modi di fare critica, edited by Cecchi and Ghidetti and published in 1983, enumerated historicist criticism, alongside stylistic, Marxist, Freudian, sociological, semiotic, and militant criticism. Today, however, these schools and the methods they engendered appear to have lost their propulsive force.

Yet, despite this, literature seems to be experiencing a remarkably fruitful season: perhaps because the imaginary is the only antidote to the unbearable weight of being, or perhaps because, with the decline of grand systems of knowledge, it has now become the sole tool with which to attempt a deciphering of the world. Several phenomena attest to this: the novel – especially the ‘popular’ novel – enjoys widespread success, not least because it is widely disseminated by major digital platforms and social networks (such as Wattpad or BookTok, for example); popularisers who ground their acclaim in the explication of the classics clearly attract a considerable following; serial narrative and cinema draw upon literary texts, both classical and contemporary, for subjects and screenplays; poetry appears in pop song lyrics, and poetry slam sessions revive the ‘oral’ tradition of verse, even for a broad audience.

All this inevitably prompts a reflection, centred primarily on the relationship between data and interpretation, and on the concrete practices of criticism. The questions that proposed contributions might seek to address could be the following: on what ‘data’ do the humanities today ground their interpretations and discourses? How can academic research engage with the incandescent matter that ‘living’ literature places before us? Does literary criticism possess a necessarily technical lexicon, or may the humanities legitimately partake in discussions concerning the most pressing issues of contemporary society? In what ways can we interrogate the past not merely with an ‘archaeophilic’ gaze, but with a mindset oriented toward the society to come? Finally, can we still make conscious use of texts – particularly in teaching – with the specific aim of deriving from literature a genuine lesson delle cose antique (from ancient things)?

In the Debates and Issues section of its Portal, «Griseldaonline» has already hosted an account of the lively seminar organised on these themes by the Adi (Associazione degli Italianisti) in Bologna on 13-14 December 2023, where a reflection was initiated on possible common research goals within the discipline, on questions of method (tools and critical issues), as well as on the aims of research and the teaching of Italian literature today. Now, through the journal, we wish to interrogate this great theme – one that concerns all of us, as scholars and as citizens – further and on a much broader scale.

These are the areas of interest in relation to which scholars are invited to submit their proposals:

• Italian literature;
• Literary theory and comparative literature;
• Arts and performing arts disciplines;
• Cinema, photography, and television;
• Latin language and literature;
• Classical philology.

The deadlines for submitting articles are as follows:
> Vol. 25, No. 1, to be published in August 2026 | by 1 April 2026;
> Vol. 25, No. 2, to be published in December 2026 | by 1 September 2026.