CALL FOR PAPERS - v. 37, n. 2 (abr. - jun. 2026) Dossiê:
CALL FOR PAPERS - v. 37, n. 2 (jan. - mar. 2027) DOSSIER: Literature and democracy
CALL FOR PAPERS - v. 37, n. 2 (jan. - mar. 2027)
Organizers:
Aline Magalhães Pinto (UFMG)
Henrique Estrada Rodrigues (PUC-RIO)
Roberto Said (UFMG)
Deadline for submission of proposals: September 03, 2026.
Literature and democracy
The connections between modern literature—considered in terms of its fictional nature—and democracy, which constitutes the political and social horizon of our time, undoubtedly define the horizon of contemporary thought. We understand that democratic life, with its debates and conflicts, is not merely thematic material for the novel, but that the very practice of literature is conceivable in relation to democratic political action. This is what J. Derrida emphasizes in the famous interview he gave to Derik Attridge in 1992, pointing to the way in which literature, in its fictional nature, seems empowered to “say everything” (tout-dire), a principle that historically connects it, in turn, to the emergence of a modern notion of democracy. Not necessarily a fixed form already established, but a democracy yet to come, as the experience of a “committed promise,” in the philosopher’s words. This sensibility regarding the literary finds an affinity in the formulations, for example, of Michel Foucault, Roland Barthes, Gilles Deleuze, and, more recently, Jacques Rancière. But the problem established here also draws attention from other traditions of thought, as well as from other fields of study, even if they result in different approaches and outcomes. It is constructed above all from different ways of interrogating modernity, in philosophy, in the theory of history, in cultural criticism, in theorists and critics as diverse as W. Benjamin, P. Ricoeur, and E. Auerbach, J-L Nancy, H. Blumberg, H. White, J. Habermas, R. Koselleck, among others. Habermas, for example, highlights the foundational role of the literary public sphere—which developed relatively free from the authorities of the Church and the State—in the creation of a modern political sphere and an ethos of critical debate.
Today, the debate between literature and democracy takes on new contours and urgency, given the effects caused by the combined action of: a) disinformation, understood as a socially structured form of communication that disrupts the interpretive parameters used by the average person as tools for interpreting the world; b) the fragmentation and reorganization of the public sphere, impacted by the communicative networks of digital media that shift the modern logic of credibility toward that of engagement, and c) the growing presence of AI in all spheres of social life. In this scenario, research questions arise regarding forms of consciousness about fiction, in order to assess how they function in literature, in audiovisual media, and in the turbulent political discursive space where democracy—and its tradition—is claimed by conflicting subjects and agencies. At stake are the political, artistic, and epistemic ambiguities that open new inquiries into historical truth and the form of literary fiction, traversing the angles that touch upon them: ethical choice, aesthetic experience, and representations of reality.
If, in fact, the problem at hand challenges contemporary scholarship by calling into question our understanding of both democracy and literature, of both fiction and truth, it equally calls for reinterpretations across different temporal and historical contexts, in which the discussion of both concepts arises—not without controversy—whether in fictional production, in its various forms, or in critical and theoretical discourse across diverse fields of knowledge. In this sense, better understanding the relationships between literary fiction and democracy implies going beyond the framework of modernity to consider—sometimes divergent—conceptions of the role of literary fiction in a democratic regime. At the same time, to rethink the possible meanings of democracy, revisiting the discussion about the reading public seems pertinent, since only through a community of readers could literature be assigned the role of critically questioning democratic norms, in the name of the individual’s moral values or, conversely, of collective political demands.
This special issue of the journal Aletria invites reflection, from different theoretical perspectives, on the relationship between literature and democracy, given the inherent historicity evident in this relationship. Beyond the field of literary studies, we welcome texts from interdisciplinary research and/or other areas of knowledge interested in the subject.
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