Periodic Report Summary 1 - IFHCMN (Innovative Form and Historical Conflicts in the Modern Novel)
My research period in the Department of Comparative Literature at Harvard University has enabled me to develop my project “Innovative Form and Historical Conflicts in the Modern Novel,” granted to me as coordinator by the European Commission, exceeding expectations in many senses. Harvard University and the mentorship of Professor Martin Puchner and Professor Werner Sollors, have welcomed, guided, and put on my hands all their excellent resources and advice. I have made the most of them thanks to the careful planning that I was requested to submit with my application and grant agreement. Excellent mentorship of my scientific in charge, Nora Catelli, has guided me in the main development of my project.
The project has as its main objective to expand the field of Narratology through a dialogue with the historical context of the literary works so as to understand how historical events and discourses have determined the development of and experimentation with narrative technique. For the two-year period of the outgoing Marie Curie fellowship, I set the aim to complete most of the research and writing of the book manuscript entitled Narrative Reliability, Racial Conflicts, and Ideology in the Modern Novel. This book should enhance the interrelation between narrative technique and historical and cultural criticism, so as to encourage that the literary studies would not follow separate paths, as it seems to be the tendency today. This book and related published materials should make this controversial and challenging issue in literature my specialty. My book should contribute to redefine the field of Narratology making its technical refinements more enlightening of the historical discussions that appear in fiction, and thus reconciling and integrating the gains of cultural critics with those of literary theorists. Stemming from this book project I aimed to publish several more specific articles that would cover relevant aspects not delved into in the book manuscript. These should be published in key journals to the field of Narrative theory and of Comparative literature. I expect to publish this book in a major publishing house that would settle me as a consolidated Comparative Literature scholar.
The accomplishment of these major objectives should be possible through three main complementary actions in the outgoing phase: 1. Intense training at Harvard University, centered in the Department of Comparative Literature and, more specifically, in the Institute of World Literature, 2. Collaborating with Professor Nora Catelli and Professor Annalisa Mirizio to interconnect Harvard University with the Universitat de Barcelona, and 3. Disseminating my work through academic and non-academic channels. This career development should clarify and consolidate my Comparative Literature scholarly profile and establish my own research fields internationally.
The development of my work can be summarized through various targets the pursue of which has organized the progress of my work:
With regards to publications, in two years I have written from scratch 280 pages of my book manuscript Narrative Reliability, Racial Conflicts, and Ideology in the Modern Novel, 240 of which have been fully revised and have been already sent to one publisher. I wrote and prepared all the book proposal materials and sent them to 4 publishers. Two top presses invited the manuscript. I have written versions of some of the chapters, two new short papers, and one longer lecture, which were delivered orally at conferences, individual presentations, and an invited lecture. I have written and submitted one chapter for the volume Ecocriticism and Narrative Theory: Essays on a Critical Confluence edited by Erin James and Eric Morel. I have also been invited to guest edit a special issue for the Journal of World Literature (Fall 2017).
For these two years I have participated to the most prestigious conferences on Comparative Literature and Narratology (ACLA and ISSN), as part of my clearest presentation as a Comparative literature scholar, and as an opportunity to share my research in a broader Comparative Literature framework (ACLA), and the narrower specialization of Narrative Theory (ISSN). The updatin on the state of the field and the newest trends for each of my areas, and most specially networking with prominent scholars has been crucial for future projects, and most directly for the possible publication of my book. Out of one conference paper abstract, the acquisitions editor of Ohio State University Press reached me to meet her to discuss a potential publication of my book manuscript (ISSN conference 2014), and invited me to show her my proposal documents and answer my doubts before sending them officially (ISSN conference 2015), conversations which resulted in inviting the manuscript. This is especially relevant because Ohio State University Press is the most important US publisher on Narratology and the leading one in the field. I also had the opportunity to give one lecture, and two presentations at Harvard.
I received a substantial amount of training both on my research area, by auditing courses such as “Interracial Literature” by renowned scholars like Werner Sollors, attending the Institute of World Literature in Hong Kong (2014), and attending lectures and weekly lecture series such as those at the Hutchinson Center at Harvard. I got intense training in organizing conferences, by organizing the seminar “Frictions of World Literature: Taste, Value, and the Academy in Spanish and Latin American contexts and literatures” (May 2015), which brought scholars from the US, Spain, and Argentina, and which strongly contributed to connect both fields and consolidate the ties between the Universitat de Barcelona and Harvard University. I also proposed the Universitat de Barcelona membership to the Institute of World Literature, which enables two professors or graduate students from this institution to attend the seminar each year.
I conducted a few successful outreach activities, mainly a high school Marie Curie Ambassador workshop on research to bring research and its relevance closer to young students and to society, by having students work on literary criticism for four months, write a research paper, and present it and discuss it on a panel in an emblematic city cultural center. I gave a public lecture for the International Women Society in Chicago and gave an interview to a local newspaper. I oriented all these activities to involve society in research and to highlight that my topic on narration and racial conflicts is a good way to understand cultural exchanges and to reflect on our subjective experience of how we relate to other people and how we handle cultural difference, which is at the basis of an improvement of personal behavior that is fundamental for achieving a better society.
I expect to finish the project this year by transferring the knowledge and training I have received and by extending my network for the benefit of my return institution, the Universitat de Barcelona and my European colleagues. I expect to publish a few more articles, and complete my training if possible at the Cornell School of Criticism and Theory. Finally, I expect that the results of my project and my clearer profile will enable me to find either a job in a Department of Comparative Literature or to be granted a Starting Grant by the European Research Council.
The project has as its main objective to expand the field of Narratology through a dialogue with the historical context of the literary works so as to understand how historical events and discourses have determined the development of and experimentation with narrative technique. For the two-year period of the outgoing Marie Curie fellowship, I set the aim to complete most of the research and writing of the book manuscript entitled Narrative Reliability, Racial Conflicts, and Ideology in the Modern Novel. This book should enhance the interrelation between narrative technique and historical and cultural criticism, so as to encourage that the literary studies would not follow separate paths, as it seems to be the tendency today. This book and related published materials should make this controversial and challenging issue in literature my specialty. My book should contribute to redefine the field of Narratology making its technical refinements more enlightening of the historical discussions that appear in fiction, and thus reconciling and integrating the gains of cultural critics with those of literary theorists. Stemming from this book project I aimed to publish several more specific articles that would cover relevant aspects not delved into in the book manuscript. These should be published in key journals to the field of Narrative theory and of Comparative literature. I expect to publish this book in a major publishing house that would settle me as a consolidated Comparative Literature scholar.
The accomplishment of these major objectives should be possible through three main complementary actions in the outgoing phase: 1. Intense training at Harvard University, centered in the Department of Comparative Literature and, more specifically, in the Institute of World Literature, 2. Collaborating with Professor Nora Catelli and Professor Annalisa Mirizio to interconnect Harvard University with the Universitat de Barcelona, and 3. Disseminating my work through academic and non-academic channels. This career development should clarify and consolidate my Comparative Literature scholarly profile and establish my own research fields internationally.
The development of my work can be summarized through various targets the pursue of which has organized the progress of my work:
With regards to publications, in two years I have written from scratch 280 pages of my book manuscript Narrative Reliability, Racial Conflicts, and Ideology in the Modern Novel, 240 of which have been fully revised and have been already sent to one publisher. I wrote and prepared all the book proposal materials and sent them to 4 publishers. Two top presses invited the manuscript. I have written versions of some of the chapters, two new short papers, and one longer lecture, which were delivered orally at conferences, individual presentations, and an invited lecture. I have written and submitted one chapter for the volume Ecocriticism and Narrative Theory: Essays on a Critical Confluence edited by Erin James and Eric Morel. I have also been invited to guest edit a special issue for the Journal of World Literature (Fall 2017).
For these two years I have participated to the most prestigious conferences on Comparative Literature and Narratology (ACLA and ISSN), as part of my clearest presentation as a Comparative literature scholar, and as an opportunity to share my research in a broader Comparative Literature framework (ACLA), and the narrower specialization of Narrative Theory (ISSN). The updatin on the state of the field and the newest trends for each of my areas, and most specially networking with prominent scholars has been crucial for future projects, and most directly for the possible publication of my book. Out of one conference paper abstract, the acquisitions editor of Ohio State University Press reached me to meet her to discuss a potential publication of my book manuscript (ISSN conference 2014), and invited me to show her my proposal documents and answer my doubts before sending them officially (ISSN conference 2015), conversations which resulted in inviting the manuscript. This is especially relevant because Ohio State University Press is the most important US publisher on Narratology and the leading one in the field. I also had the opportunity to give one lecture, and two presentations at Harvard.
I received a substantial amount of training both on my research area, by auditing courses such as “Interracial Literature” by renowned scholars like Werner Sollors, attending the Institute of World Literature in Hong Kong (2014), and attending lectures and weekly lecture series such as those at the Hutchinson Center at Harvard. I got intense training in organizing conferences, by organizing the seminar “Frictions of World Literature: Taste, Value, and the Academy in Spanish and Latin American contexts and literatures” (May 2015), which brought scholars from the US, Spain, and Argentina, and which strongly contributed to connect both fields and consolidate the ties between the Universitat de Barcelona and Harvard University. I also proposed the Universitat de Barcelona membership to the Institute of World Literature, which enables two professors or graduate students from this institution to attend the seminar each year.
I conducted a few successful outreach activities, mainly a high school Marie Curie Ambassador workshop on research to bring research and its relevance closer to young students and to society, by having students work on literary criticism for four months, write a research paper, and present it and discuss it on a panel in an emblematic city cultural center. I gave a public lecture for the International Women Society in Chicago and gave an interview to a local newspaper. I oriented all these activities to involve society in research and to highlight that my topic on narration and racial conflicts is a good way to understand cultural exchanges and to reflect on our subjective experience of how we relate to other people and how we handle cultural difference, which is at the basis of an improvement of personal behavior that is fundamental for achieving a better society.
I expect to finish the project this year by transferring the knowledge and training I have received and by extending my network for the benefit of my return institution, the Universitat de Barcelona and my European colleagues. I expect to publish a few more articles, and complete my training if possible at the Cornell School of Criticism and Theory. Finally, I expect that the results of my project and my clearer profile will enable me to find either a job in a Department of Comparative Literature or to be granted a Starting Grant by the European Research Council.