The poor in literature, arts and in the media:
Artistic and social representations of poverty

Up to the eighteenth century, the theme of poverty in art and literature was dominated by the evangelical model.

With the rise of 'realistic' art, artists gradually turned away from the allegorical dimension (see for example the scene of the poor man in Molière's Don Juan) in favor of a denunciation of the negative consequences of industrialism on society and on the model of city. Poverty represented a scandal for reason, the de facto denial of the idea of equality. Poverty was no longer considered in itself, but in contrast with richness, the two being respectively associated with positive and negative ethical values.
In the twentieth century, the question of poverty was displaced in artistic representation by the more specific question of social conflict and class struggle.

In recent decades, other types of social problems (unemployment, massive migration, war) have attracted the interest of artists and the word 'poverty' has often been associated with that of 'specter': an ever impending ethical and economical disaster.
In general, however, the topic of poverty has been avoided (see, for example, the article in the on line New Yorker entitled "The "P" Word: Why Presidents Stopped Talking About Poverty"), making its occasional manifestations of particular interest (Bennet's The Lady in the Van, certain novels by Daeninckx or Moni Ovadia's Madre dignità).

The Laboratory of Literary Studies Inter Artes of the Department of Letters and Philosophy of the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio proposes the publication of a work on the topic of the representation of poverty in literature, arts and the media, in all historical periods and geographical areas. The project may include representations of poverty in the press, in politics and in education.

Working Bibliography (some suggestions)
P. Bourdieu (coord.) La misère du monde, Paris, Seuil,1993
Y. Lochard, Fortune du pauvre. Parcours et discours romanesques, Saint-Denis, PUV, 1998.
Henry Mayhew, London Labour & the London Poor, Oxford-New York, OUP, 2000
A . Sen, The idea of justice. London, Penguin, 2010
De la pauvreté, dir. A Grunert, «CinémAction», 149, 2013.

Scientific Committee: Maddalena De Carlo, Gabriele Poole, Elisabetta Sibilio, Maria Valentini

Articles may be in Italian, French or English. Proposals, consisting of a provisional title and a 300 word abstract, should be sent to lab.interartes@gmail.com before June 30th 2015. The committee will respond by July 15th 2015. Deadline for papers has not been established yet but will be after January 15, 2015.

All papers submitted will be subject to double-blinded review.