Pensare l’economia attraverso la letteratura: Dai cancelli d’acciaio di Gabriele Frasca e l’anti-crisi contemporanea

Abstract

This article analyses "Dai cancelli d’acciaio" by Gabriele Frasca. The aim of the article is to study the economic crisis using fiction. The novel talks about Valentino, a gamer of "Glorified Persons", a weird MMORPG. The relation between the boy and the videogame can be considered as an image of the difficulty to act in contemporary world. Moreover, the structure of this game can be considered a representation of the strategy of contemporary power to throw the people into apathy, in order to control them as consumers. The critical approach of the article proposes a dialogue between the theories of desire and economic thought, through the human behavior represented by fiction. Consequently, fiction can turn into a helpful tool to estimate the potential future dangers of contemporary economic world.