Technology in Italian Crime Fiction

Catalog description

Detective fiction can be considered a perfect point of convergence between technology and the humanities due to the crucial role of forensic science in its narratives. This course will examine the role of forensic science and technological devices as non-human actors in Italian crime fiction, from the 1930s to the present, by analyzing a selected corpus of crime novels, short stories, films, and TV series. Specifically, it will focus on the nuanced relationship between Italian fictional detectives and modern investigative methods, as well as the agency of technological devices as narrative devices used by politically committed authors to expose problems, corruption, and dysfunctional power dynamics in Italian society.