“It’s like a great mystery novel with a lot of sex scenes in it.” Interpretare <i>The Sluts</i> fra internet e immediatezza complessa

Massimiliano Manni; Marco Tognini

doi:10.54103/2282-0035/29307

Authors

Massimiliano Manni University of Brescia https://orcid.org/0009-0006-9758-6264
Marco Tognini Università of Milan https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8383-4497

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54103/2282-0035/29307

Keywords:

Dennis Cooper, internet, post-postmodernism, immediacy, narratology

Abstract

This article discusses key narratological and interpretative issues in The Sluts by Dennis Cooper, starting from the novel’s distinctive narrative structure, which is largely constructed through reviews and posts on an online forum. The first part examines the relationship between fiction writers and the advent of the Internet, highlighting the limited interest shown by much 21st-century fiction in the online world, as well as the prevalence of negative representations of the web. Starting from readers’ reviews, the article then shifts to place the Internet at the center of the reading of Cooper’s novel, proposing to view the web not only as a structural feature but also as a central thematic element. The main narratological implications that stem from this dominance are explored. In the second part, the article investigates the work’s complex immediacy, marked by the absence of any external narrative framing. Finally, it sheds light on the dynamics between users referred to as ‘literalists’ and those called ‘fantasists’, offering an interpretation of the novel.

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Author Biographies

Massimiliano Manni, University of Brescia

Massimiliano Manni holds a PhD in Language and Literary Sciences and has been a lecturer at the Universities of Brescia and Milan. His research has focused on contemporary English-language autofiction, of which he proposed a formal model and investigated the role in his doctoral thesis “Becoming Autofictions: Stories of the Post-Truthful Self”. He has worked, among others, on autobiography and the novel, post- and meta-modernism, narratology and marginal authorship.

Marco Tognini, Università of Milan

Marco Tognini holds a PhD in Comparative Literature and Literary Theory from the University of Milan, where he is also an Adjunct Professor in “Comparative Literature” and coordinator of the teaching workshop “Narrating Science and Technology”. His research interests focus on the relationships between literature and new media, the ethical dimensions of narrative, and literary theory. Together with Stefano Ballerio, he co-edited the special issue of “Enthymema” titled Literature and the Web: Alliances, Antagonisms, Strategies (2022).

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