Serial Fiction in the Western World

History and Theory
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-041-06791-7
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 338 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm

Reihe: Literary Criticism and Cultural Theory

This volume explores the long and intricate evolution of serial forms, presenting them as one of the cornerstones of Western culture. The first part traces the archaeology and early mainstream of serial narration: from antiquity to the medieval romance, from the first Baroque culture industry to the feuilleton, photographic reproduction, pulp fiction and the cinematic serials of the 1930s. The second section moves into the later twentieth century and the contemporary world, examining comics, post-television seriality, B-movies, video games and the new forms of online serialisation. The final part turns to today’s myths, analysing the serial dimension in fiction and advertising, music and the arts, architecture, fashion and design. Across these trajectories, seriality is interpreted not merely as a specific mode of cultural production, but as a basic anthropological model and, at the same time, as a foundation of the processes underpinning modern and current consumer society.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Rafele, Antonio

Ragone, Giovanni

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft
• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Medienwissenschaften
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Mediensoziologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturwissenschaft

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Contributors Section I 1. Seriality and the media. Outlines for a theory 2. At the sources of serial imaginaries: the ancient world and its legacies 3. From Arthur to Amadís: The Knightly Romance Series 4. Archeology of Modern Seriality: The Baroque Age 5. The Feuilleton. Transitions in the cultural industry from the hero to the superman. 6. Subject, Metropolis, and Other Spaces in 19th-Century Serial Genres 7. The Serial Image. Photography and the Long Nineteenth-century Media 8. Serialisation and Transmedia Narratives: An Archaeology (1900-1939) Section II 9. Post-Cinematic and Televisual Seriality: Narrative Strategies Between Mass Media and New Media. 10. Seriality and time of consumption 11. A Reflection on American Comics Seriality: From the Sunday Supplements of the Late 1800s to Contemporary Graphic Novels 12. Talent and Habituation: On Television Series and the Genesis of the Fan 13. Manga and Anime: Japanese Seriality Conquering the World 14. Classic Cinema and B-Movie 15. Seriality in Video Games. Forms, Mechanisms and Strategies 16. Serial Structure in Contemporary TV Series 17. Rethinking seriality in platform cultures: self-serialised identity narratives and participatory micro-serialisationSection III 18. Media Smarginatura and Seriality: Blurring the Edges of Representation 19. Material, Immaterial, Phygital: The Technical Reproducibility of Fashion in Three Main Phases 20. Seriality, from radio to podcasting 21. The gastronomic discourse and seriality forms 22. Seriality in Advertising Communication 23. Serial (theatrical) performances: observing liveness as format and media frame 24. Architecture as the Art of Repetition 25. Sometimes the Best Choice Is Not to Choose. Viewer Indecision and Machine Decisions 26. Visual Arts and Seriality: Phenomenology of the Anti-Environment Index

Über Autor(innen)

Giovanni Ragone has been Full Professor of Media Studies at Sapienza University of Rome.

Antonio Rafele is currently serving as Associate Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Rome La Sapienza, and as a Research Fellow at the University of Paris La Sorbonne