Dr Simona Bartolotta

Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow - Project: “Towards a Theory of Post-Anthropocentric Narrative”

Research Interests

• Modern and contemporary literature
• Science and speculative fiction
• Narratology and narrative theory
• Cognitive literary studies
• Ecocriticism
• Nonhuman studies
• Literature and Science
• Literature and Philosophy

Education

Fellowships

Publications


Journal Articles

Bartolotta, S. (Forthcoming). “Thought Experiments, Literary Narrative, and SF: The Example of Isaac Asimov’s Robot Cycle.” Poetics Today.

Bartolotta, S. (2024). “On the Hybridity of the Classic Occult Detective Story.” ELH 91(2), 467-499. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/elh.2024.a929156.

Bartolotta, S. (2023). “Apophenic Inventions: Chance and the Dismantling of Anthropocentrism in Stanisław Lem’s Fiction.” Science Fiction Studies 50(3), 368-395. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/sfs.2023.a910326.

Bartolotta, S. (2022). “Beyond Suvin: Rethinking Cognitive Estrangement.” Between, 12(23), 49-68. DOI: https://doi.org/10.13125/2039-6597/4925.


Book Chapters

Bartolotta, S. (In preparation). “Of Ancestors and Descendants: AI as Evolutionary Heir.” In Beyond the Turing Test: What Science Fiction Can Teach Us about Artificial Intelligence, ed. Ulf Dalvad Berthelsen, Mads Rosendahl Thomsen, and Morten Tannert.

Bartolotta, S. (In preparation). “Science Fiction and Modernism: Imperfect Correspondences Between Fictional Languages.” In Crossing Boundaries: Literary and Linguistic Intersections in Modernist Studies, ed. Savina Stevanato and Annalisa Federici.

Bartolotta, S. (In preparation). “The Illogic of Fiction: Speculative Reflections on Abduction, Naturalization, and Signification in Narrative.” In Logic, Literature and AI, ed. Rachel Falconer and Sangam MacDuff. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

Bartolotta, S. (In preparation). “‘As Blades of Grass Are Small’: visioni post-antropocentriche in Grass di Sheri S. Tepper” [“‘As Blades of Grass Are Small’: Post-Anthropocentric Visions in Sheri S. Tepper’s Grass”]. In Symbolon, ed. Diego Salvatori.

Bartolotta, S. (2022). “Genere letterario e valore estetico: Christopher Priest per un’etica della fantascienza” [“Literary Genre and Aesthetic Value: Christopher Priest for an Ethics of Science Fiction”]. In G. Carrara and L. Neri (eds.), Con I buoni sentimenti si fanno brutti libri? Etiche, estetiche e problemi della rappresentazione. Milan: Ledizioni, pp. 625-635.



Conferences/Talks

November 2024. “Who Fears the Sematic Void? Junji Itō and the Horror of Alienated Human Shapes.” ICLA Research Committee on Comics Studies and Graphic Narrative Conference “Framing the Unreal: Exploring Graphic/Visual Science Fiction and Fantasy,” Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.

November 2024. “I misteri della fantascienza: tra giallo ontologico, cyber-noir, thriller ecologico, e altre combinazioni possibili” [“Mysteries of Science Fiction: Ontological Detective Story, Cyber-Noir, Eco-Thriller, and Other Possible Combinations”]. Conference “Urbinoir 2024 – ExtraMondiNoir,” University of Urbino Carlo Bo.

May 2024. “Science Fiction and Modernism: Imperfect Correspondences Between Fictional Languages.” Conference “Crossing Boundaries: Literary and Linguistic Intersections in Modernist Studies,” Roma Tre University.

May 2024. “The Heresy of Disenchantment: Disciplinary and Generic Boundaries in Speculative Fiction Studies.” Annual Conference of the Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA).

September 2023. “The Illogic of Fiction: Speculative Reflections on Abduction, Naturalization, and Signification in Narrative.” Conference “Logic and Modern Literature,” University of Lausanne.

August 2023. “Split Brains and Quantum Measurements: Parables of Disrupted Selves in Philip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly and Greg Egan’s Quarantine.” Joint Annual Conference of the Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA) and the German Association for Research in the Fantastic (GfF), TU Dresden.

May 2023. “Thought Experiments, Literary Narrative, and Science Fiction: The Example of Isaac Asimov’s Robot Cycle.” Conference of SLSAeu (European Society for Literature, Science and the Arts) and ELINAS Research Center for Literature and Natural Science, Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg.

May 2023. “‘As Blades of Grass Are Small’: visioni post-antropocentriche in Grass di Sheri S. Tepper” [“‘As Blades of Grass Are Small’: Post-Anthropocentric Visions in Sheri S. Tepper’s Grass”]. Conference “Anthropocene 4800: Literature, Environment, Ecocriticism,” University of Florence.

March 2023. “Disposable Bodies and Extended Cognition in Synners and Altered Carbon.” NeMLA's 54th Annual Convention, Niagara Falls, NY.

October 2022. “Dismantling Anthropocentrism Through Narrative Form: Chance as a Principle of Plot (De)Structuring in Stanisław Lem's Fiction.” Virtual Conference of the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts (IAFA).

December 2021. “Christopher Priest e The Affirmation: caso per un’etica della fantascienza” [“Genre Unmapped: Christopher Priest and The Affirmation for an Ethics of Science Fiction”]. Annual Conference of the Italian Association of Comparative Literary Theory and History (Compalit).

Teaching experience (selection)

• Academic Tutor – University of Oxford, Worcester College, UK, Spring 2023
  
  Weekly tutorials for Worcester College’s Visiting Student Programme. Topic: Octavia Butler’s science fiction.
  
  
• Undergraduate Thesis Supervision – University of Oxford, UK, Spring 2022 - Spring 2023
  
  Topics include queer theory, utopian studies, Ursula K. Le Guin, Samuel R. Delany.
• Teaching Assistant – University of Oxford, UK, Autumn 2022
  
  The American Novel after 1945, undergraduate elective for final-year students

Awards/Grants

Professional Memberships

Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA)

Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA)

International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts (IAFA)

Italian Association for the Study of Comparative Theory and History of Literature (Compalit)