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What Changes When Theory Changes
Apr
16
2026
2:40pm - 4:00pm
On Campus Event - Dalton, 25
The Department of Transnational Italian Studies is delighted to announce “What Changes When Theory Changes,” a lecture by Dr. Corrado Confalonieri, Associate Professor of Italian Studies at Chapman University and holder of the Bernardino Telesio Endowed Professorship. The event is organized within Luca Zipoli's course “Theory in Practice: Critical Discourses in the Humanities” (COML B213) and is open to everyone interested.
Please contact lzipoli@brynmawr.edu for more information.
The event is co-sponsored by the Bi-Co Program in Comparative Literature and by the Department of German Studies.
Abstract:
The history of literary theory, like the history of all discourses, is shaped not only by the emergence of new words and formulations, but also by the shifts in meaning that occur over time in terms that may have been used long before. As Foucault noted, the sentence “dreams fulfill desires” may recur across centuries, yet it is not the same statement in Plato as it is in Freud. For this reason, it is essential not to cleanse the signs of theory from the sediment of history. This lecture examines what changes within theoretical practice when the concept of repression enters the scene. It asks what Freud’s notion of repression enables us to recognize, and what it may simultaneously push into the background – what becomes newly visible, and what risks remaining obscured as a consequence of Freud’s own theoretical apparatus.
Speaker's bio:
Corrado Confalonieri is Associate Professor of Italian Studies at Chapman University and holds the Bernardino Telesio Endowed Professorship. He earned a PhD in Romance Languages and Literatures from Harvard University (2019) and a dottorato in Italian Literature from the University of Padua (2014). He has taught and conducted research in Italy and the U.S., including positions at Wesleyan University, Harvard University, and the University of Parma. His research focuses on the Italian Renaissance and literary theory, and he is the author of Torquato Tasso e il desiderio di unità. La “Gerusalemme liberata” e una nuova teoria dell’epica (Carocci, 2022), “Queste spaziose loggie”. Architettura e poetica nella tragedia italiana del Cinquecento (Loffredo, 2022), and Ariosto e la teoria. Intertestualità, ironia e realtà nel “Furioso” e nelle sue letture (Longo, 2025).
Audience: Public
Type(s): Discussion, Lecture
Submitted by:
Contact:
Luca Zipoli
Bryn Mawr College welcomes the full participation of all individuals in all aspects of campus life. Should you wish to request a disability-related accommodation for this event, please contact the event sponsor/coordinator. Requests should be made as early as possible.