Litteratur og materialitet. En teoretisk overflyvning

Martin Gregersen & Tobias Skiveren: “Literature and Materiality: A Theoretical Overview” In recent years, the slogan of materialism has resonated across the Humanities. Concepts like “language”, “culture”, and “discourse” are increasingly going out of fashion as practices of denaturalization no longer provoke the shock and awe they did in the early heydays of poststructuralism. Meanwhile, the language of “matter”, “life”, and “the nonhuman” is spreading rapidly, accompanied by the promise of alternative ways of thinking and new modes of inquiry. This article outlines some of the main tenets of this turn toward materiality. Bringing together theories of Bruno Latour, Jane Bennett, and Graham Harman, the main aim is to sketch out similarities and differences within this new philosophical trend and identify some of its potential for transforming literary criticism.