Papers by Claudia Cerulo
Aura. Rivista di letteratura e storia delle idee, 2024
This article aims to provide an overview of the current state of the graphic novel in Italy, offe... more This article aims to provide an overview of the current state of the graphic novel in Italy, offering an investigation of the medial object through an internal mapping of genres and through a commodity-based definition. The first paragraph of the paper constitutes an introduction to the characteristics of the graphic novel and its genesis and canonization, as well as its relationship to classic comics; in this section, the provisional scope of the pamphlet is presented. In the second and third paragraphs we discuss how both mapping genres internally and classifying the graphic novel on a commodity basis highlight flaws in the construction of a national media narrative around this format that would have it as the leading sector of the comics industry. Eventually, the multifaceted variety of genres on the one hand and the constraints in finding and interpreting production and sales data on the other hand assess the difficulties of agreeing on a clear, common definition of what the graphic novel is nowadays, therefore advocating for a more porous definition that could present this typology as just one of many realizable possibilities in current comics production.
Status Quaestionis, Jul 20, 2021
Writing about the Holocaust means negotiating with silence and investigating the repercussions of... more Writing about the Holocaust means negotiating with silence and investigating the repercussions of a trauma that never stopped affecting our present. The process of historical recognition from the perspective of a third-generation artist implies the reconstruction of the past through objects, photographs and documents, written and visual evidence. Through the analysis of two contemporary German graphic novels – Love looks away(2008) by Line Hoven and Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home (2018) by Nora Krug – this essay will identify the multiple compositional techniques and aesthetic strategies in order to understand how drawing, text and photography converge in a single effort to untangle History, either micro or macro, in order to understand what came before and after significant historical events – and perhaps even explain why those events occurred.
Sapienza Università Editrice, 2021
L'articolo mira a rintracciare le origini dell'interesse di Elias Canetti per l'ascol... more L'articolo mira a rintracciare le origini dell'interesse di Elias Canetti per l'ascolto e a mettere in evidenza l'approccio 'acustico' dello scrit tore alla realt\ue0. Partendo dagli scritti autobiografici e dalle raccolte di appunti - materiali nei quali lo scrittore intreccia esperienze personali, incontri e riflessioni sulle sue letture - si propone di costrui la fitta trama di oralit\ue0 e suono che innerva la produzione canettiana, tramite un'approfondita indagine su come il significato dei suoni si leghi a una riflessione sul senso della scrittura
Lo scaffale degli scrittori: La letteratura e gli altri saperi, 2021
L'articolo mira a rintracciare le origini dell'interesse di Elias Canetti per l'ascolto e a mette... more L'articolo mira a rintracciare le origini dell'interesse di Elias Canetti per l'ascolto e a mettere in evidenza l'approccio 'acustico' dello scrit tore alla realtà. Partendo dagli scritti autobiografici e dalle raccolte di appunti - materiali nei quali lo scrittore intreccia esperienze personali, incontri e riflessioni sulle sue letture - si propone di costrui la fitta trama di oralità e suono che innerva la produzione canettiana, tramite un'approfondita indagine su come il significato dei suoni si leghi a una riflessione sul senso della scrittura.
Status Quaestionis No. 20 (2021): Drawing (Hi)stories: Rethinking Historical Graphic Narratives , 2021
Writing about the Holocaust means negotiating with silence and investigating the reper... more Writing about the Holocaust means negotiating with silence and investigating the repercussions of a trauma that never stopped affecting our present. The process of historical recognition from the perspective of a third-generation artist implies the reconstruction of the past through objects, photographs and documents, written and visual evidence. Through the analysis of two contemporary German graphic novels – Love looks away(2008) by Line Hoven and Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home (2018) by Nora Krug – this essay will identify the multiple compositional techniques and aesthetic strategies in order to understand how drawing, text and photography converge in a single effort to untangle History, either micro or macro, in order to understand what came before and after significant historical events – and perhaps even explain why those events occurred.
CONTEMPORANEA. Rivista di studi sulla letteratura e sulla comunicazione. Fabrizio Serra editore, Pisa - Roma., 2019
Lo scopo del presente studio è un’analisi della scena centrale del racconto di Thomas Mann Mario ... more Lo scopo del presente studio è un’analisi della scena centrale del racconto di Thomas Mann Mario und der Zauberer (1929) reinterpretato in contrapposizione al capolavoro di Elias Canetti Masse und Macht (1960). Partendo dai riferimenti intertestuali e dalle riflessioni politiche nascoste dietro la trama della novella di Mann e la definizione di Canetti della nozione di massa e del concetto di potere, questo studio si concentra su alcune connessioni che potrebbero arricchire la comprensione reciproca di entrambe le opere, in particolare riflettendo sul potere suggestivo del linguaggio, sul concetto di collettività e sul potere enigmatico della massa sull’individuo. Analizzando la rete di interconnessioni tra i due testi, lo scopo di questo lavoro è di proporre una fenomenologia del potere, scoprendo le implicazioni metaforiche e la dimensione simbolica che i testi condividono. L’analisi, organizzata secondo un principio di progressione musicale, consente un’indagine su una serie di fenomeni sociali in una prospettiva senza tempo, partendo dal presupposto che il conflitto tra sé e la massa è ancora un fenomeno culturale che non si limita alla politica, ma anche filosofico, riguardo allo Streben dell’individuo libero arbitrio contro le forze dell’ignoto e dell’inconscio.
The purpose of the present study is an analysis of the central scene of Thomas Mann’s tale Mario und der Zauberer (1929) reinterpreted in counterpoint with Elias Canetti’s masterpiece Masse und Macht (1960). Starting from the intertextual references and political reflections hidden behind the plot of Mann’s novella and Canetti’s definition of the notion of mass and the concept of power, this study focuses on some connections that could enrich the mutual understanding of both works, especially by reflecting on the suggestive power of language, on the concept of collectivity and on the enigmatic power of the mass over the individual. By analysing the network of interconnections between the two texts, the aim of this work is to propose a phenomenology of power, discovering the metaphorical
implications and the symbolic dimension that the texts share. The analysis, organized according to a principle of musical progression, allows an inquiry on a series of social phenomena in a timeless perspective, starting from the assumption that the conflict between the self and the mass is still a cultural phenomenon that is not limited to politics, but also philosophical, concerning the Streben of the individual free will against the forces of the unknown and the subconscious.
SigMa. Rivista di letterature comparate, teatro e arti dello spettacolo., 2019
Scopo del presente studio è un’analisi comparata di due racconti che hanno eletto il concetto di ... more Scopo del presente studio è un’analisi comparata di due racconti che hanno eletto il concetto di ‘quotidiano’ a soggetto della propria narrazione: Lessico Famigliare di Natalia Ginzburg (1963) e La lingua salvata. Storia di una giovinezza di Elias Canetti (1977). La quotidianità familiare descritta da Canetti e Ginzburg è una quotidianità vissuta due volte: la prima da spettatori inconsapevoli, bambini animati dal desiderio di comprendere e entrare in quel mondo dei grandi dal quale sono circondati imitandone i suoni e le parole pur non capendole; la seconda da registi assoluti, ripetendo il gioco mnemonico di chi ha osservato e udito, ma possedendo l’onnipotenza di attuare una scelta su cosa narrare, diventando protagonisti e narratori della propria storia. Lo studio si propone di analizzare molteplici elementi: partendo dalla funzione della parola come marcatore della quotidianità e del ricordo ‘operatore mnestico’, volendo utilizzare una felice definizione di Cesare Segre, il linguaggio segreto e incantato delle due comunità familiari sarà analizzato affiancato a riflessioni sulla filosofia del linguaggio e in particolare alla funzione del linguaggio quotidiano nel romanzo, focalizzandosi in particolar modo sulle figure genitoriali descritte nei due testi. Successivamente si prenderà in analisi la struttura delle due narrazioni e in particolare la dicotomia tra parola e silenzio, paragonando l’epicizzazione del quotidiano e l’esplicita intenzione di far passare sotto silenzio eventi personali o storici traumatici o di ridurli, appunto, al ricordo di singole parole che risuonano e che ricordano l’evento.
Conference Presentations by Claudia Cerulo
Colloque international: Des amnésies mémorables. La mise en texte et en images de l’oubli collectif, 2021
Si, comme le dit Lukács, toute forme artistique est la résolution d’une «dissonance existentielle... more Si, comme le dit Lukács, toute forme artistique est la résolution d’une «dissonance existentielle» que l’artiste tente d’exorciser dans l’acte créateur, écrire sur l’Holocauste est un véritable défi à l’irreprésentable qui –pour être mis en œuvre– a besoin d’une forme qui utilise tous les langages capables d’investiguer le spectre implacable d’un traumatisme qui n’a jamais cessé d’agir sur notre présent et qui continue de faire partie des thèmes abordés par la littérature, en particulier dans le cas des littératures dessinées. La représentation de la guerre et surtout de la Shoah est toujours marquée par une relation fluide et instable entre le déplacement et la connaissance, le dicible et l’indicible. Néanmoins depuis quelques temps, les récits de soi et du passé familial envahissent l’espace de l’horizon culturel contemporain d’une façon tout à fait nouvelle. Dans l’espace discursif de la postmodernité il y a beaucoup de genres qui recueillent des récits transgressant les limites entre public et privé. Claudia Cerulo réfléchit l’articulation conflictuelle entre mémoire et oubli à partir de l’analyse de Liebe schaut weg (2008) par Line Hoven et Heimat (2018) par Nora Krug. Il s’agit de deux exemples d’auto-graphics liés à l’expérience traumatique de la prise de conscience du passé nazi qui utilisent une perspective archéologique toute particulière, c’est-à-dire une reconstruction posthume du passé à travers une machinerie matérielle et symbolique des souvenirs (objets, documents et surtout dessins).
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Papers by Claudia Cerulo
The purpose of the present study is an analysis of the central scene of Thomas Mann’s tale Mario und der Zauberer (1929) reinterpreted in counterpoint with Elias Canetti’s masterpiece Masse und Macht (1960). Starting from the intertextual references and political reflections hidden behind the plot of Mann’s novella and Canetti’s definition of the notion of mass and the concept of power, this study focuses on some connections that could enrich the mutual understanding of both works, especially by reflecting on the suggestive power of language, on the concept of collectivity and on the enigmatic power of the mass over the individual. By analysing the network of interconnections between the two texts, the aim of this work is to propose a phenomenology of power, discovering the metaphorical
implications and the symbolic dimension that the texts share. The analysis, organized according to a principle of musical progression, allows an inquiry on a series of social phenomena in a timeless perspective, starting from the assumption that the conflict between the self and the mass is still a cultural phenomenon that is not limited to politics, but also philosophical, concerning the Streben of the individual free will against the forces of the unknown and the subconscious.
Conference Presentations by Claudia Cerulo
The purpose of the present study is an analysis of the central scene of Thomas Mann’s tale Mario und der Zauberer (1929) reinterpreted in counterpoint with Elias Canetti’s masterpiece Masse und Macht (1960). Starting from the intertextual references and political reflections hidden behind the plot of Mann’s novella and Canetti’s definition of the notion of mass and the concept of power, this study focuses on some connections that could enrich the mutual understanding of both works, especially by reflecting on the suggestive power of language, on the concept of collectivity and on the enigmatic power of the mass over the individual. By analysing the network of interconnections between the two texts, the aim of this work is to propose a phenomenology of power, discovering the metaphorical
implications and the symbolic dimension that the texts share. The analysis, organized according to a principle of musical progression, allows an inquiry on a series of social phenomena in a timeless perspective, starting from the assumption that the conflict between the self and the mass is still a cultural phenomenon that is not limited to politics, but also philosophical, concerning the Streben of the individual free will against the forces of the unknown and the subconscious.