Emory Campus – the main quad
I have been spending more than a month as a visiting scholar at Emory, invited by Professor Valérie Loichot and thanks to my Marie Curie fellowship. It has been an amazing experience! Emory is one of the best universities in the United States and it is such an exciting environment where to do research, meet other scholars and discuss with them about literature and philosophy. During this period, I have been attending many different conferences, museum guided tours, readings, theatre shows, talks and presentations (in French studies, Italian studies, gender studies, African cinema studies etc.) and I had the opportunity to meet other scholars and discuss about my work with such important academic personalities as Valérie Loichot, Geoffrey Bennington and Elissa Marder in the Department of French and Italian and in the Comparative Literature one. Emory University has really huge resources and equipment for research, and a very good library, too. I could work on my monograph, especially on a chapter that I am currently developing on Glissant, Nancy and Derrida on the subjects of community, hospitality, relation and the stranger. I have also made a public presentation (or ‘guest lecture’) of the first chapter of my book, that I have submitted as an article, too. The text I have presented and discussed at Emory is entitled ‘Le lieu tremblant du poème-monde chez Glissant et Heidegger’. It is about the complex relation between poetry and the place (glissantian ‘le lieu’, heidegger’s ‘ort’) and the conflictual-agonistic aesthetic that derives from it in both the German philosopher and the Martinican poet and philosopher. In particular, I have focused on the late Heidegger’s essays on language and poetry and on Glissant’s Soleil de la conscience (1956). The article has been well received by the audience and gave birth to very interesting discussions that are certainly going to influence my future work on this topic. During my stay, I have also applyed for many academic positions in the States and both Valérie and Michael Wiedorn helped me a lot in the application procedures (it’s a very hard job!). Well, fingers crossed! I have also assisted to a couple of Valérie’s courses in both English and French (to understand better how is teaching in the States) and I have also participated in some activities of the Italian ‘side’ of the department, especially with Simona Muratore (who also works on Italian migrant literature I am very interested in).
Emory is an exciting place to do research, but I have also received a great human welcome and met people that have deeply marked my intellectual journey. I would like to thank them all, even if I cannot quote all their names here. Everyone gave me great inputs that will deeply influence my future work and maybe push it in new directions that I hadn’t considered before (and this is what makes research a great thing and gives it its most authentic and creative sense, isn’t it?). The contacts I have established and developed here will be very useful for my career, but above all I hope that I could give my personal contribution to the development of this exciting intellectual community.
The Emory Library reading room
A trip at Sweetwater Creek, enjoying the fall colours.
The Open Boat 