Philosophy of Literature
The initial period of Perniola’s career focuses on the philosophy of the novel and the theory of literature. In his first main work, Il metaromanzo (The Metanovel 1966), which is his doctoral dissertation, Perniola argues that the modern novel from Henry James to Samuel Beckett has a self-referential character. Furthermore he claims that the novel is only about itself. Perniola’s aim was to demonstrate the philosophical dignity of these literary works and try to recover a serious cultural expression. The Italian Nobel Prize for Literature Eugenio Montale praised Perniola for this original critique of novels.
Read more about this topic: Mario Perniola
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