Doctoral conference : “Faites vos jeux: game and space in texts and of texts“
22-24 march 2023, University of Udine, University of Trieste, Udine
Échéance des propositions : 1er décembre 2022
To speak seriously about play is a terrible corruption of play.
(Fink, Oasis of Happiness, p. 15)
The XXXVI PhD cycle of the course in Language and Literary Studies of the University of Udine and University of Trieste is pleased to announce the doctoral conference “Faites vos jeux: game and space in texts and of texts”, which will take place on March 22-24, 2023 in Udine.
The theoretical debate revolving around the topic of game is deeply rooted and took different shapes according to space and time. However, it goes without saying that the 20th century gave a new impulse to these studies, as game started to be theorized from several disciplinary perspectives (psychology, sociology, anthropology, esthetics, philosophy, literature, and linguistics). Regardless of the adopted approach, in most cases it is the limitedness of game, also in terms of spatiality, that is theorized preliminarily.
In the first seminal work of this field, Homo ludens (1949) by Johan Huizinga, the connection between play and space in different cultures is analyzed from a primarily anthropological perspective. According to this author, the playground is an inherently different space from that of ordinary life: “the arena, the card-table, the magic circle, the temple, the stage, the screen, the tennis court, the court of justice, etc., are all in form and function play-grounds, i.e. forbidden spots, isolated, hedged round, hallowed, within which special rules obtain” (Huizinga 1949: 10).
Starting from these premises, in Man, Play and Games (1958), Roger Caillois defines play as an activity that is separated from ordinary life, “circumscribed within limits of space and time, defined and fixed in advance” (Caillois 2001: 9). Unlike Huizinga, however, Caillois adopts a pluralistic approach, shifting from the concept of ‘play’ to that of ‘games’ (agon, alea, mimicry, ilinx), which may degenerate when a contamination between the world of play and the world of reality occurs – thus when the previously established limits of space and time are crossed (cf. Caillois 2001: 61-74). The definition put forth by Benveniste in Le jeu comme structure (1947) is similar to the ones proposed by Huizinga and Caillois. As a matter of fact, this linguist points out that the formal and regulated character of game takes place within strict limits and conditions and constitutes a closed totality compared to the real world (cf. Benveniste 1947: 161). Continuer la lecture de Appel à contributions : Faites vos jeux: game and space in texts and of texts (Udine, Italie) →