Hypercontemporary Dynamics

Researchers:

• Ana Cláudia Pires – CLP University of Coimbra
• Ana Isabel Martins – University of Lyon (France)
• Ana Maria Binet – University Bordeaux-Montaigne (France)
• Ana Paula Arnaut – CLP University of Coimbra
• André Correa de Sá – University of California, Santa Barbara (Estados Unidos)
• Daniela Maduro – CLP University of Coimbra
• Eduardo Nunes – University of Aveiro
• Felipe Cammaert – University of Aveiro
• Filipe Senos – University of Aveiro
• Gonçalo Cholant – CETAPS Centre for English, Translation and Anglo-Portuguese Studies
• Isabel Cristina Rodrigues – University of Aveiro
• Isabel Garcez – CLP University of Coimbra
• João Faustino – University of Warwick (England)
• Matteo Pupillo – University of Évora
• Paulo Kralik Angelini – Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (Brasil)
• Raquel Gonçalves – CLP University of Coimbra
• Sílvia Amorim – University Bordeaux-Montaigne (France)
• Sofia Escourido – CLP University of Coimbra

1. Identification and justification

The project aims to study the characteristics of Portuguese fiction published since the year 2000, which, not without some controversy, has been named hypercontemporary fiction. As the prefix that makes up the word insinuates, hypercontemporary literature is literature that points to the intensified presentation- staging of aspects that characterize our time: among others, those resulting from systematic scientific and technological advances or the progressive prominence that the image occupies in literary creations, leading to literary works increasingly engaging in dialogue with other arts, directly or indirectly, in an intense broadening of the concept of intertextuality.
It will be important to consider the existence of two overarching categories, whose characteristics are not mutually exclusive. Schematically, in a partial reformulation of considerations previously proposed and assumed to be in development, hypercontemporary fiction includes, on the one hand, in a first category that may be designated as intermedial narratives (intermodal, according to some critics), works that covertly put interartistic intertextual practices into play, calling on artistic objects of varying content without reproducing them. On the other hand, this also includes those in which the visual dimension is openly inscribed on the printed page itself. The second group will include narratives that structurally and formally reveal lines of varied
entropy, in which direct or indirect links to the composition of characters and environments prevail in the mold of the 19th century epigonal generation of Realism-
Naturalism. A set of narratives that deal with issues of post-memory will also be
considered.

2. Objectives

• To make a critical survey of Portuguese fictional narratives written and published after the year 2000.To identify the main trends that characterize the new fiction (thematic and formal).
• To evaluate the possibility of establishing a new literary paradigm.
• To collect and publish critical literature published in newspapers.
• To create a space for reflection around recently published literary texts, exploring the relationship they can establish with different disciplinary areas, artistic languages and contemporary topics.
• To promote dialogue between researchers from different institutions.
• To disseminate the resulting knowledge to librarian teachers and Portuguese teachers, and other professionals, such as librarians, booksellers, publishers and literary journalists.

3. Outcomes

• Publication (in print or digital book) of the researchers’ findings.
• Publication of writers’ interviews.
• Publication of critical literature published in newspapers, such as Jornal de Letras, artes e ideias.