Author’s note

I have been thinking for a long time about writing a text, not a long one indeed, to summarize the main points of my research, thus showing its consistency and its potentials. For a number of reasons this idea was delayed until this very day; and even now I have just a part of it to offer, just a fragment.

This fragment is about the theory of literature. It originated from a few conversations with Richard Ambrosini on the book I published with Einaudi in 2006. I wrote the following text in the form of a self-presentation; I guess it can be seen as a ‘manifesto’, a concise manifesto on what the theory of literature is and on its ever growing importance in our times, ruled by anti-theory and retro-studiesas they are.

I hope that others will have a chance to share and build on the vision and the techniques that can be learnt from 20th-century classics; I simply tried to make those elements more accessible.

I dedicate these pages to Richard for triggering me to write them, and for being so generous to translate them into English for me.

Turin, October 15^th 2009

*translation by Anna Belladelli

What the theory of Literature is. Grounds and problems (2006)