Papers by Gabriele D'Amato
Between, 2024
In recent years, movies and tv shows have increasingly adopted the notion and the structure of th... more In recent years, movies and tv shows have increasingly adopted the notion and the structure of the multiverse from superhero comics, resulting in a great popularity of the concept across a wider audience. The article aims to define the basic features of contemporary multiverse narratives, and to explore some of their textual applications. The first part will deal with the narratological theory of parallel worlds in fiction, following Marie-Laure Ryan's and Karin Kukkonen's analyses, to outline five key features shared by each multiverse narrative. The second part will be devoted to three significant case studies, that show three different applications of the multiverse as a textual device: Everything Everywhere All at Once as an example of intertextual narrative; Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, that relies on a cultural dominant; and the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a transmedial storyworld expanded through the characteristics of the multiverse.
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The article examines the role played by readers' engagement with characters in their interpretive... more The article examines the role played by readers' engagement with characters in their interpretive strategies of physical and moral disgust, by taking as its point of departure the concept of "character-centered illusion" developed by Marco Caracciolo. Through my case studies-the novel Blonde (2000) and its film adaptation (2022)-I attempt to show how formally and thematically similar works may produce a different reception of disgust, depending on a different structural juxtaposition between empathetic perspective-taking and cognitive dissonance toward their protagonist, Norma Jeane. In my comparative analysis I focus on a range of formal and thematic strategies adopted by the two works to elicit disgust in their recipients, distinguishing between differential and medium-specific techniques. I then examine how the two works foreground Norma Jeane's fractured identity and altered state of consciousness as a means of problematizing readers' engagement with her. While highlighting the continuities between the novel and the movie, I suggest that the latter disrupts the effective balance between empathy and cognitive dissonance of the former by relying heavily on the conventions of the psychological horror and Norma Jeane's hallucinatory and delusional states, thus forcing a switch in viewers' interpretive strategies.
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Book Reviews by Gabriele D'Amato
Enthymema, 2024
Giocando su una nota locuzione, il titolo degli Atti della quarta edizione del Seminario Permanen... more Giocando su una nota locuzione, il titolo degli Atti della quarta edizione del Seminario Permanente di Narratologia (Milano, 27-28 ottobre 2022), Morale della fabula, mette sin da subito in risonanza l’intreccio dei due elementi chiave affrontati dal volume: etica e forme narrative. Se etica e morale sono usati in maniera per lo più interscambiabile nel corso degli interventi, la fabula rimanda infatti chiaramente a una classica categoria narratologica, introducendo così il taglio teorico del volume. E tuttavia il titolo, alludendo alla morale della favola, pone anche un primo interrogativo in merito al rapporto tra etica e narrazione: la locuzione poggia, infatti, sull’aspettativa che un testo letterario, per essere eticamente rilevante, debba presentare un insegnamento. Seguendo la definizione del vocabolario Treccani, la morale della favola è «l’insegnamento che se ne ricava, ma spesso fig., l’interpretazione sostanziale e conclusiva che dev’essere data di un fatto o di una situazione». Ma al di là dell’assonanza e del gioco di parole, in che modo la ‘morale della fabula’–intesa come etica della narrazione–implica la presenza della colloquiale morale della favola? Detto più chiaramente, è compito della letteratura, e delle narrazioni in senso lato, impartire lezioni morali al lettore? Offrire istruzioni esplicite, risposte etiche sostanziali e conclusive? È un interrogativo che, più o meno esplicitamente, sottende tutta la raccolta, e che verrà affrontato nello specifico nell’ultimo contributo di Marco Caracciolo, che si pone dunque come punto di approdo, pur necessariamente provvisorio, del percorso intrapreso dal Seminario.
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Conference Presentations by Gabriele D'Amato
My paper aims to explore how ludic strategies in multiperspective narratives can contribute to ac... more My paper aims to explore how ludic strategies in multiperspective narratives can contribute to actualize their ethical potential. Rather than merely juxtaposing contradictory or complementary viewpoints side by side, such texts adopt experimental techniques to evoke a multilayered entanglement of perspectives. My focus is on how experimental multiperspective narratives can integrate ludic strategies and compositional constraints on a formal level, thus challenging the teleological, plot-driven linearity that characterizes many examples of multiperspectivity. As noted by Hanna Meretoja, “narratives that create awareness of different perspectives on the same phenomenon or situation are generally ethically more productive than ones that present only one perspective as worth considering.” However, multiperspective narratives cannot be considered as ethically charged forms per se. Otherwise, we risk neglecting Meir Sternberg’s “Proteus Principle,” which highlights the relative independence of formal choices and ideological meanings. As I aim to demonstrate here, some ludic strategies help express this ethical value by fostering two effects: first, they are likely to elicit a slow reading practice that directs readers’ attention toward the intricate entanglement of character perspectives; second, they formally mirror the dialectic between freedom and constraint that shapes human relationships.
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This paper focuses on multiperspectivity in story-focused video games by exploring the role playe... more This paper focuses on multiperspectivity in story-focused video games by exploring the role played by interactivity in shaping the interaction between character viewpoints. As argued by Mattia Bellini, we can consider IDNs and story-focused video games as complex expressive means: through my case study, I suggest that the encounter of narrative and gameplay may produce a formal complexity that allows us to revisit a peculiar case of multiperspective narrative, that is, the so-called Rashomon effect.
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The article examines the role played by readers’ engagement with characters in their interpretive... more The article examines the role played by readers’ engagement with characters in their interpretive strategies of physical and moral disgust, by taking as its point of departure the concept of “character-centered illusion” developed by Marco Caracciolo. Through my case studies–the novel Blonde (2000) and its film adaptation (2022)–I attempt to show how formally and thematically similar works may produce a different reception of disgust, depending on a different structural juxtaposition between empathetic perspective-taking and cognitive dissonance toward their protagonist, Norma Jeane. In my comparative analysis I focus on a range of formal and thematic strategies adopted by the two works to elicit disgust in their recipients, distinguishing between differential and medium-specific techniques. I then examine how the two works foreground Norma Jeane’s fractured identity and altered state of consciousness as a means of problematizing readers’ engagement with her. While highlighting the continuities between the novel and the movie, I suggest that the latter disrupts the effective balance between empathy and cognitive dissonance of the former by relying heavily on the conventions of the psychological horror and Norma Jeane’s hallucinatory and delusional states, thus forcing a switch in viewers’ interpretive strategies.
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Il mio intervento si propone di illustrare le strategie retoriche e formali attraverso le quali i... more Il mio intervento si propone di illustrare le strategie retoriche e formali attraverso le quali il romanzo Qualcosa, là fuori (2016) di Bruno Arpaia intreccia la riflessione sul futuro – nel contesto della catastrofe ecologica – con i processi creativi del cervello e della memoria. Secondo la sociologa Melinda Cooper, la crisi ecologica è anche una crisi della capacità scientifica di prevedere e pianificare il futuro: nel romanzo di Arpaia tale crisi è profondamente legata a quella della capacità narrativa. Da un lato, Qualcosa, là fuori presenta una narrazione non-lineare, ottenuta attraverso una serie di tecniche di manipolazione della temporalità; dall’altro, il romanzo pone l’attenzione sul ruolo svolto dalla ricerca neuroscientifica nella vita del protagonista, Livio Delmastro, mettendo in primo piano la riflessione metafinzionale su neuroscienze, narrazione e worldmaking. L’intreccio tra manipolazione della temporalità e riflessione neuro-narrativa produce la “strategia negativa”, secondo la definizione di Marco Caracciolo, che sta al cuore del romanzo: la crisi della «forma racconto» nel prevedere e pianificare il futuro.
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Nella sua analisi della frequenza narrativa, Genette prende Rashomon come esempio canonico di nar... more Nella sua analisi della frequenza narrativa, Genette prende Rashomon come esempio canonico di narrazione con focalizzazione interna multipla che racconta n volte quanto avvenuto una volta sola. Dal film prende il nome l’«effetto Rashomon» – diffuso anche in ambiti distanti dalla teoria della narrazione – che indica una particolare condizione di instabilità epistemologica determinata da una serie di resoconti conflittuali e contraddittori di un medesimo evento. Nelle narrazioni multiprospettiche, l’effetto Rashomon si verifica dunque quando non viene data alcuna preminenza gerarchica a uno dei resoconti rispetto agli altri, lasciando lettori e spettatori in uno stato di incertezza rispetto all’attendibilità dei diversi narratori o focalizzatori. Attraverso gli strumenti della narratologia post-classica, il contributo si propone di indagare due tipologie di incertezza multiprospettica alla luce delle differenti esperienze di lettura, prendendo in esame due film contemporanei, Memento (2000) di Christopher Nolan e Les Choses humaines (2021) di Yvan Attal.
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This paper aims to explore the relationship between point of view and power in contemporary ficti... more This paper aims to explore the relationship between point of view and power in contemporary fiction, by proposing a peculiar case of multiperspectivity—which I will call “pseudo-multiperspective narration”—in which the multiplication of focalizations or narratorial stances turns out to be a formal or rhetorical strategy developed by a “first-person omniscient narrator” (Dawson). Since this kind of unreliable narrator is frequently provided with a “characterological motivation,” pseudo-multiperspective narratives reflect—on both structural and thematic levels—on the deliberate manipulation of point of view. If the adoption of multiple points of view is often interpreted as a formal means to broaden readers’ perception of the storyworld, allowing them to have access to it through different characters and problematizing monological and heteronormative positions, pseudo-multiperspective narratives reflect, even thematically, on the relationship between the concept of perspective and the power of narrative manipulation, by constraining multiple internal focalizations within a strict narrative frame.
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Call for Papers by Gabriele D'Amato
I dottorandi del XXXVIII ciclo del Dottorato in Letterature, arti, media: la transcodificazione d... more I dottorandi del XXXVIII ciclo del Dottorato in Letterature, arti, media: la transcodificazione dell'Università degli Studi dell'Aquila annunciano l'apertura della call for papers per il Convegno Dottorale dal titolo "(Un)doing Expectations. L'aspettativa tra narrazione, performance e decostruzione" rivolto a dottorande e dottorandi, giovani ricercatrici e ricercatori.
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