Atlante del romanzo europeo: 1800-1900

by Franco Moretti

Un atlante del romanzo. Dietro questo titolo c'è un'idea molto semplice: che la geografia sia una forza attiva, concreta, che lascia tracce profonde sull'invenzione letteraria, e che dunque mettere in rapporto geografia e romanzo -cioè, fare una carta geografica del romanzo - permetterà di vedere delle cose che fin qui ci sono rimaste nascoste. Una buona carta vale mille parole, amano dire i cartografi, ed è vero, nel senso che suscita mille parole: dubbi, curiosità, associazioni strane. Una buona carta pone delle nuove domande e ci spinge cosi verso delle soluzioni anch'esse nuove.
È la scommessa di questo libro: proporre una breve storia del romanzo europeo in cento carte geografiche. Dove si vede come è fatta l'Inghilterra di Jane Austen e quanto è diversa dalla Spagna del picaresco, o dalla Francia della Comédie humaine; dove si scoprono i confini invisibili della Parigi di Balzac e della Londra di Dickens (e il patto segreto tra Sherlock Holmes e Jack lo Squartatore). E dove infine si segue la diffusione europea del Don Chisciotte, dei Buddenbrook, dei best-seller inglesi e francesi, e si cerca di capire in che senso si possa parlare di "letteratura europea". Nella geografia letteraria di Franco Moretti le carte funzionano insomma come dei veri e propri strumenti analitici: che smontano l'opera in modo diverso dal consueto e danno vita a un progetto critico in cui lo spazio è il protagonista segreto della costruzione narrativa.

Genres: Nonfiction, Literary Criticism, Literature, History, Geography, Maps, Grad School

202 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Franco Moretti is an Italian literary scholar, trained as a Marxist critic, whose work focuses on the history of the novel as a "planetary form". He has written five books, Signs Taken for Wonders (1983), The Way of the World (1987), Modern Epic (1995), Atlas of the European Novel, 1800-1900 (1998), and Graphs, Maps, Trees: Abstract Models for a Literary History (2005). His recent work is notable for importing, not without controversy, quantitative methods from the social sciences into domains that have traditionally belonged to the humanities. To date, his books have been translated into fifteen languages.

Moretti has recently edited a five-volume encyclopedia of the novel, entitled Il Romanzo (2004), featuring articles by a wide range of experts on the genre from around the world. It is available in a two-volume English language edition (Princeton UP, 2006).

Moretti earned his doctorate in modern literature from the University of Rome in 1972, graduating summa cum laude. He was professor of comparative literature at Columbia University before being appointed to the Danily C. and Laura Louise Bell Professorship at Stanford University. There, he founded the Stanford Center for the Study of the Novel. He has given the Carpenter Lectures at the University of Chicago, the Gauss Seminars in Criticism at Princeton, and the Beckman Lectures at the University of California-Berkeley. In 2006, he was named to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He also has been a fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. He is a frequent contributor to the New Left Review and a member of Retort, a Bay Area-based group of radical intellectuals. He is also a scientific adviser to the French Ministry of Research.

Reviews

[لیلی · Rating 4 out of 5]

خوندنش احتمالا مفیدترین کاری بوده که امسال در حق خودم کرده‌م.
نه فقط از این جهت که روش پایان‌نامه کم و بیش باهاش دراومد، بلکه از این جهت که یه نفر دقیقا دست گذاشت رو همون جایی که مدت‌ها بهش فکر می‌کردم ولی نه توان بیان و توضیحش رو داشتم و نه جرئتش رو، چون فکر می‌کردم چیزهاییه که از حیطه‌ی ادبیات خارج می‌کنه ما رو و ادبیت کار رو ازش می‌گیره، هرچند که مفید باشه خیلی.
و خود مورتی هم داره مشابه این وضعیت رو، و ازش حرف می‌زنه و به چالش می‌کشه این رو که اصلا ما چی می‌دونیم ادبیات رو و چی اگر ازش برداشته بشه دیگه ادبیات نیست.
خلاصه که خیلی درخشان. دقیقا همون حدی از کار گِل کردن که همیشه مدنظر منه تو کار پژوهشی، که بری سراغ اون کارها که همه می‌دونن باید انجام بشه ولی خب همه هم کارهای جالب‌تر و هیجان‌انگیزتری برای انجام دادن رو ترجیح میدن نسبت به اینها.
و در عین حال همونقدری که می‌خواستم هم کار انجام‌نشده‌ایه به‌نسبت روی ادبیات ایران و اون حدی از «آسمون پاره شده فقط من یکی افتاده‌م پایین که رو این کار کنم» رو داره حدودا هنوز. که خب لازمش داشتم از نظر روحی. :))
و نهایتا نقشه‌ها. اون چیزی که همه‌ی این آبسشن کار کردن روی نسبت بین ادبیات و شهر ۴-۵ سال پیش ازش شروع شد و تمام این مدت همراهم بود ولی رفته‌رفته حس کردم احتمالا نمی‌تونه تو مسیر پژوهشی جا بگیره و باید به‌عنوان هابی شخصی برخورد کنم با هی برگشتن به نقشه‌ها در هرجای پژوهش.
حالا تقریبا همه‌ی کار مورتی روی نقشه‌ست. و به نقشه‌ها برمی‌گردم.
[عنوان اتوبیوگرافی‌م در زمانی که خیلی دیگه خفن شده بودم و چند دهه داشتم رو این چیزها کار می‌کردم هم می‌تونه باشه این عبارت آخر، قشنگه خیلی😂]

+نشر نی ترجمه‌ش رو چاپ کرده، «اطلس رمان اروپایی ۱۸۰۰-۱۹۰۰» و ترجمه خیلی خوبی هم هست و من اون رو خوندم اصلا و حالا حالش رو پیدا کنم و به فعالیت‌های گودریدزی برگردم می‌سازم ادیشنش رو حتما.

[محمدحسین بنـکدارتهرانی · Rating 3 out of 5]

ایده کتاب جذاب است اما نویسنده نتوانسته برابر ادعای بزرگی که کرده کاری جدی و موجه ارائه کند.

[Catherine Siemann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I studied with Moretti when he was developing the ideas that became this book, and my partner on a project on the early 1800s "silver fork" novel went on to be his research assistant and gets a shout-out in the text. So I may be a bit biased, but it's fascinating anyway.

[James Askari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moretti's book is in two parts. The first, in two long chapters, is relatively traditional interpretive literary criticism, examining the structure of narrative forms and the shaping presence in them of place (e.g. the borders of the emergent nation-state in Scott, the resorts of newly national marriage-markets in Austen). The other is 'history of the book' and aims to map the diffusion of novels both across circulating library collections and geographical space at a larger scale, from metropolitan centres to the postcolonial e.g. Brazil or national e.g. Romania peripheries. Moretti's stock-in-trade is the blunt formula that is nevertheless surprisingly true--that 'what is well-known in never known', that 'the circulation of cultural forms is a conservative force' (because it denies local writers vernacular forms, to go with their vernacular content), etc. About half of these are rewarding. Much of the book will be charmingly obvious to a European and eye-opening to an American. He mentions Jameson's mapping of Chandler's LA; I'd have preferred that to the Sherlock Holmes retreads.

[gio · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Maggie]

Novels and the Nation State. The market and inequality. Austen's novels "take the strange, harsh novelty of the modern state and turn it into a large, exquisite home" (18). ...'The marriage market (again, like any other market) has produced its own brand of swindlers: shady relatives, social climbers, speculators, seducers, declasse aristocrats...."
"against whose power of separation human beings ... have only one weapon: constancy. They must remain what they are, despite all distance, they must remain loyal, patient -- faithful" (22).
Perhaps the fictional representation of the Economic Great Britain (24) Bertrams: "modest colonial profits -- and large national ones" (26)
"...the link between the wealth of the elite and the 'multitude of labouring poor' of contemporary England can be easily severed: the elite is cleared, innocent. Which is a wonderful thing to know, for heroines that want to marry into it - and even better, of course, in the decades of the harshest class struggle of modern British history."
Perhaps the complexity of the novel art form is what lends itself to reflecting such complex social structures

[Anamika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Theory. Spatial Criticism. All made very interesting.

Examples from the European novels - historical, sentimental, picaresque - point to the slow and steady progress, and coming into existence of the entity we know as the European novel form. And, this, then is deeply connected to European nationalism, and the birth, as it were, of nation states. Connections with Benedict Anderson here. Also, impressed by the relationship established between novel and the city-space - although the focus is primarily on London, and Paris, and Dickens and Balzac. A bit on Conan Doyle too. Finally ends with a quantitative analysis of literature of space, as it were. Narrative markets.

Good stuff, on the whole!

[Ayrinne · Rating 4 out of 5]

È un testo estremamente chiaro e di facile lettura. Un analisi del perchè un determinato tipo di romanzo viene creato e costruito in un certo modo, a sostegno dell'importanza del luogo in cui nasce o in cui viene ambientato. Dal romanzo sentimentale di Jane Austen, al picaresco Don Chisciotte, ai grandi romanzi urbani di Balzac e Dickens: si ripercorre tutta la narrativa europea per approdare ai feuilleton brasiliani, al romanzo di idee russo e al realismo magico latino-americano. Questo testo possono trovarlo decisamente interessante gli amanti dei classici ottocenteschi e di inizio Novecento.
A mio avviso, coloro che non conoscono autori e titoli rischiano di perdersi un po'.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Morretti advances his quantitative literary theory--an idea that gets a lot of literary scholars uncomfortable. Morrettti is not interested in close reading, but distance reading--interested in what we can see when we don't look at novels as individuals but look at patterns of publication and reception. He argues that the French and English novels were the dominant models in Europe during the 19c but that the French model was more popular all over, whereas English more popular in north. May be because French was the cultivated language of all Europe at the time. He does not take into account the United States--which may have considerably warped his results.

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yay for dissertation research

[Sara (Sbarbine_che_leggono) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Letti i primi due capitoli (fino a pag. 144) per l'esame di sociologia della letteratura.

Nel primo capitolo vengono affrontati i rapporti tra romanzo e stato-nazione, partendo dal romanzo settecentesco di Jane Austen, della home-land, per arrivare a parlare di romanzo storico, di formazione, coloniale e russo (delle idee).

Nel secondo capitolo invece l'autore parla di due grandi città, la Londra di Dickens (e Conan Doyle) e la Parigi di Balzac, Sue e Zola. Soffermandosi sulle differenze nell'uso degli spazi e mettendo a confronto in particolare Dickens e Balzac, per poi parlare del romanzo della complessità balzachiano (il romanzo del terzo).

Il tutto accompagnato da grafici e cartine.
Teorie interessanti e chiare.

[Annm · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fascinating line of research and it makes me think about th3 geography of my own novels. However, the author uses an ever changing set of novels to “prove” each of his points. Therefore, it seems, without knowing further details, that he cherrypicked his data—e.g., chose the specific novels to prove each point.

He may not have, but that’s impossible to tell with the information given in the book.

[Brenton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite love the 1st 1/3 of this book, and was quite taken with it as a younger scholar. Moretti is a lot of fun to read. Because I don't know the feeling of Paris (or much 19th-century French literature), the middle third of the book was not super helpful to me. I study C.S. Lewis, a literary historian like Moretti. They are the opposite of each other, but from my vantage point, they each teach me things.

[Farah Mendlesohn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting ideas but his comments on Britain and the Empire economy were so off base that it made me sceptical of much.

Liked the sections on Waverley which hit my interests.

Also: in this book he seems to feel the need to urge the importance of the work through over writing. The 'beautiful phrase" here often obscures rather than elucidates. His plainer writing is more interesting.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exciting way of thinking about literature.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[Danny · Rating 4 out of 5]

*for grad school* slim, pretty readable volume of criticism that explores the notion of "are certain stories limited to certain spaces." Moretti says "yes," and he claims that the early novel (late 18th, early 20th) didn't just support the notion, but supported other space-based notion-- such as ideas where romance can occur, where rebellion can occur, and even how a nation-state can exist. At times you lose Moretti (despite the clarity of his eccentric prose) but he makes several fascinating points which I love. He expands on Williams' ideas of Austen's "knowable community" of a specific kind of England, and ideas about "where" Holmes could solve crimes. I got lost at times with his ideas of "the third" and some of his explanations of Paris. His last section explores lending libraries and where specific books were read, and implications of what books could be read where. If nothing else, it's thought provoking, clearly written, unique, bold, and has tons of really cool maps inside. So many great graphs, maps, visuals.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gives new and accessible perspectives on 19th century European literature, and I found many of Moretti's points intriguing. The maps he has created are truly phenomenal, and present so much more information than could be described in words. The writing style is precise and smart but informal, and ideas are presented clearly. Much of the book focuses, however, on a relatively small number of books, and while it's not absolutely necessary to have read them, it would probably help - my lack of Balzac hurt me a bit, but knowledge of the works discussed isn't crucial.

[Kandice · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I am aware that Moretti's analysis of the novels he examines is often flawed (particularly in its simplicity), I can't help but feel that the real purpose of the book is to develop a new (and fascinating) methodology that literally maps the movements of and in the 19th-century European novel. The novelty of Moretti's approach makes it difficult to fault him for his surface readings, especially because he achieves what few literary critics manage: an engaging, energetic, and compulsively readable style largely free of jargon.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super interesting take on the flows of literary forms and translations across the European continent in the 19th Century. For us translation nerds the chapter late in the book entitled "England becomes an island" is a great historical analysis of England's historical problems with accepting translated literature into their canon (and libraries, and bookshops, and collections, and so on). Nice to know it's not a new problem at all, but good lord is that a depressing thought to be facing hundreds of years of closed-minded reading...sigh...

[Nat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moretti does quantitative literary criticism using maps and charts and lots of data. Instead of "close reading", he engages in "distant reading" that aims to capture large scale trends in the development of literature.

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

New theories and interesting topics in the European novel and its impact. I particularly liked the studies of London, Paris, and the novel, and it encouraged me to read a lot more French literature. Geography and literature--sounds dry, but Moretti is very entertaining.

[Katarzyna Bartoszynska · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mmmph. 3.5 stars really. It's definitely Moretti's most successful attempt to demonstrate the utility of a quantitative approach to literary studies, and he does discover some interesting things, but you regularly find yourself frustrated by the blind spots and omissions. At least I do.

[Ana-Karina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loving it!

[Ivano Porpora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interessante lettura della produzione bibliografica dell'800 dal punto di vista geografico. Balzac, Dickens, Zola, Manzoni, e altri: come lo spazio connota la letteratura, e la modifica.