Head of research unit: Franca Bruera
Research unit: Franca Bruera, Roberto Gilodi, Benoît Monginot, Valeria Marino, Francesca Quey
Archaeology of Risk. Theoretical-critical paths in French-language literature in the early 20th century
The aim of this unit's project is to analyse the theorisations of risk in French-language literature of the first half of the 20th century, investigating their links with contemporary revolutions in science and epistemology (theory of relativity, man-machine interaction, etc.). The main aim is to circumscribe the notion of risk in literature through the identification of a theoretical and methodological corpus that allows for the elaboration of a definition of risk in literature. The study of the evolution of authorial postures related to the attribution of existential and ethical values to risk focuses on the analysis of texts, interviews and writings by the main actors of the literary avant-garde (Apollinaire, Tzara, Michaux, Picabia, Duchamp, Cahun, Fluxus, etc.). The research also focuses on literary practices characterised by forms of metariflexivity that contemplate the possibility of failure and the attempt to dispel or accept it (from écriture automatique to the computational writing of the Oulipo). Particular attention is paid to the study of the notions of performance, improvisation, failure and limitation that have produced new definitions of the concept of the artistic-literary work in the 20th century. The investigation is conducted through studies and mapping of aesthetic theories that consider the concepts investigated as expressive possibilities and as the ‘success’ of an artistic project (dramaturgy by Cocteau, Vitrac, essays by Artaud, Blanchot etc.).
