What is a detail? The associations this word sparks off are obvious and may be divided into two groups. Thus, either we are dealing with something significant, although at the same time almost imperceptible – something that is important but easy to overlook – like the devil who is in the details; or, on the contrary, we are dealing with something insignificant, trivial, accidental, and it is better not to pay too much attention to it, so as not to lose sight of what is important. (...)
Cerberus and the others. Monsters from the Divine Comedy
Lorenzo Montemagno Ciseri
The text shows how to read Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy through teratological analysis and attention to details. Pondering the monstrosities described in the work of the eminent Italian is a way to return the Comedy to our contemporary times and sensibility. (...)
Details and War Writing. An Interview with Christopher Merrill
Christopher Merrill
A b s t r a k t
In the interview Christopher Merrill explains the role of concrete details in war writing and war journalism. He reveals how drawing on details allows the writers to build the larger context for images of destruction and experiences in the war zones. (...)
Tagi: Christopher Merrill, fall 2022Detail and reading
Paweł Graf
A b s t r a k t
This theoretical article discusses how the detail may function in the text and what reading strategies it calls for. The article aims to present a model of a counter-text, which exists, as if, alternatively to the text proper – it emerges when the reader examines the textual details and the contexts they open. (...)
Tagi: fall 2022, Paweł Graf