The Realistic Mirror

Authors

  • Alberto Castoldi University of Bergamo

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6093/sigma.v0i6.9494

Keywords:

Realism, Balzac, fiction, Stendhal, French literature

Abstract

Realism as a literary genre has always proved difficult to define. According to a historical approach, Realism corresponds to a certain vision of literature, connecting 18th and 19th century fiction, somehow based on a pact of suspension of disbelief between the writer and their audience. Nevertheless, Realism entails a profound rethinking of the Enlightenment ideals: where the Enlightenment gaze had a rational approach, Realism introduced the primacy of a mediated contemplation of reality. While the descriptive and classificatory aims of the Enlightenment are still linked to the norms of vraisemblance, Realism involves a gaze that is free from any preconceived form of coherence.

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Author Biography

Alberto Castoldi, University of Bergamo

Alberto Castoldi (1941-2019) was Professor of French Literature at the University of Bergamo, of which he was rector from 1999 to 2009. He directed the Centro arti visive and the Centro sulla Contemporaneità of University of Bergamo. He also chaired the Bergamo Film Meeting. He was editor in chief of the journals Elephant&Castle, Prospero’s, Cahiers de littérature française (Classiques Garnier). With Franca Franchi and Michel Delon, he directed the book series “L’envers du miroir” (L’Harmattan). He was a member of the Italian association Seminario di Filologia Francese and of the Sigismondo Malatesta Association. His studies have investigated the imaginary from the 18th to the 20th century; the ‘uncanny’ in art; the relationship between drugs and literature; the symbolism of colours. His publications include Il testo drogato (Einaudi, 1994), Bianco (La Nuova Italia, 1998), Bibliofollia (Bruno Mondadori, 2004), Anatomia del vuoto: Pierrot (Bruno Mondadori, 2008), Congedi. La crisi dei valori nella modernità (Bruno Mondadori, 2010), «In carenza di senso». Logiche dell’immaginario (Bruno Mondadori, 2012), Il Flâneur. Viaggio al cuore della modernità (Bruno Mondadori, 2013).

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Published

2022-11-28

How to Cite

Castoldi, A. (2022). The Realistic Mirror. SigMa - Rivista Di Letterature Comparate, Teatro E Arti Dello Spettacolo, (6), 387–400. https://doi.org/10.6093/sigma.v0i6.9494

Issue

No. 6 (2022): Like a Prayer. Forms of the Religiousness and the Sacred in Contemporary Writings and Arts (1990-2020)

Section

Dalla Biblioteca Malatesta

License

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cc-by-80x15_80

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