call for papers no.11/2027 - 'Testimony and interpretation: reading paths between literature, philosophy and the arts from the second half of the twentieth century to the present day'.
2026-02-27
About the Journal
Transnational 20th Century. Literatures, Arts and Cultures is an international academic journal. It is published yearly (up to a maximum of two issues per year), open-access and uses single-blind review. Comparative literature, art history and cultural anthropology articles are welcome.
Announcements
Current Issue
No. 10 (2026): Forms of inter- and transmedia storytelling: ethics and aesthetics in convergent culture
Issue 10 of the journal focuses on forms of inter- and transmedia storytelling, which have come to play a central role in popular culture, as well as in the transnational and global imagination of the second half of the twentieth century and the new millennium. Under this common theme, it is divided into two monographic sections: The first part of the issue brings together contributions on the theme ‘Ethics in Narrative between Old and New Media’, and thus the results of two research projects coordinated by Francesca Medaglia, who is also the editor of this section. Building on the previous issue, it explores ethics in narratives, ranging from literature, cinema and television series to digital media. By offering an interdisciplinary approach to understanding ethics in our era—defined, in accordance with Henry Jenkins, as ‘convergent’—it examines the shifts in meaning that narratives of ‘evil’ have undergone throughout history, to the point of taking on new and unprecedented nuances in the new contexts of transmedia storytelling. From there, as highlighted in some of the section’s contributions, a series of reflections urgently arise regarding our degree of involvement, identification and judgement, and our stance towards ‘evil’: towards violence, war and the horror narrated in ‘genre’ and dystopian texts, but not only these.
It is through these issues – which are not merely formal but also thematic and specifically ethical – raised by new inter- and transmedia narratives that not only the artistic and literary fields are being redefined, but also our very identity as readers, viewers and co-creators. The second part of the issue, edited by Davide Carnevale and dedicated to ‘Imaginary worlds and forms of science fiction and fantasy comics’, reflects the transformations observed in the now vast and varied field of Comic Studies, presenting a series of contributions focusing in particular on the variations of comics in the fantastical, science fiction and horror genres. “Drawing the impossible” means not only putting into practice the semiotic processes that the intermedial language of comics has refined over its 150-year history, but also engaging with the various cultural imaginaries and with “other” languages and media that have helped to shape them.
Published:
2026-03-25
