Literary assemblage

In the first Project, “El concepto de la huella: delimitación, estudio y aplicación a la literatura reciente en lengua inglesa” (Ref. FFI2009-09242) (2010-2012), we proposed to study and analyse the notion of the ‘trace’ as an apt critical tool to discuss contemporary literature. Firstly, we examined the theoretical underpinnings of this concept. Secondly, we focused on contemporary engagements with the past (for example, neo-Victorianism), as well as the recent upsurge of interest in the spectral quality of history/memory, using the ‘trace’ as main theoretical framework. Thirdly, we investigated the ways in which the notion of the trace serves well the purposes of disciplinary boundary crossing as seen in the relationships between literature and other fields (science and medicine) and visual arts (especially photography and painting). In short, we offered an in-depth examination of the relevance of the ‘trace’ in critical theory and its applicability to recent literary works, written by Anglo-American writers, to consider how postmodernism is being challenged from different literary and critical quarters.

In the second Project, “Nuevos parámetros críticos en torno al concepto de la huella y su aplicación a la literatura reciente en lengua inglesa” (Ref. FFI2013-44154-P) (2014-2017), we focused on the quality of the trace as a physical and tangible object. This research into the materiality of the trace was carried out along three main lines: on the one hand, the trace as an impression, as a material object crucial for the reactivation of memories, which connects with the so-called “Thing theory”, and with museum studies and phenomenology. On the other hand, we analysed the intersection of the trace with food as a mnemonic object, and with illness and ageing in their relationship with the processes of memory. Finally, in the context of the recovery of the subject and the ethical turn in artistic production, as a visible trace, we deepened into the implications of the conceptualisations of the trace by Paul Ricoeur and Emmanuel Levinas, suggested in the previous project. All this lead us to deal with a key issue in the current literary and critical context, for which the trace, so our contention goes, plays a crucial role: the questioning of the validity of the postmodern paradigm, especially in terms of the changing conception of nostalgia in relation with the past and memory as tangible presences.

In the third Project, “‘Orientation’: una perspectiva dinámica sobre la ficción y la cultura contemporáneas (1990-en adelante)” (Ref. FFI2017-86417-P) (2018-2021), we employed the notion of ‘orientation in a double sense: on the one hand, using the idea of ‘orientation’ in close relation to the “polytemporality” of the trace (following Victoria Browne), which privileges process, dynamism and fluidity in its multiple temporalities, a timely concern in today’s fiction and culture in English. On the other hand, by engaging with ‘orientation’ by casting new light on ethics, affect studies and the I-you relationship that emerges in the encounter with the ‘other’ in fields such as illness and ageing studies. The notion of ‘orientation’ proved to be useful in the study and analysis of contemporary fiction and culture, published and produced in the UK and the States, taking into consideration today’s globalised environment, and in the timeline considered in this project: late twentieth- and early twenty-first century, a period itself which may be regarded as unstable, fluid and in process.

First, Prof. Rosario Arias Doblas was the principal investigator of the funded project: «Memories of the Past in European Literatures» // «Reescritura de la memoria en la literatura europea actual» (P09-HUM4609) (2010-2014). Later, Prof. Arias Doblas, together with Prof. Juan Jesús Zaro Vera were the principal investigators of the funded project: «Gender and Spiritism in Andalucía (1840-1920): Philological and Translation-related Approaches» // «Género y espiritismo en Andalucía (1840-1920): enfoque filológico y traductológico» (UMA18-FEDERJA-167) (2019-2022).

Red Tématica de Excelencia: «(Neo-)Victorian Studies in Spain Network (VINS)» // «Red de estudios (neo-)victorianos en España» (FFI2015-71025-REDT). This network, funded by the Spanish MINECO (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad) and based in Málaga, is formed by researchers from various parts of the country who participate in different funded research projects and/or research groups. Although its research lines are interdisciplinary and varied and different methodologies are applied, there is a common interest in the Victorian past and its repercussions on the present.