"La scienza nella letteratura postmoderna: verso una cultura terza? I casi Banville, Winterson, Stoppard e Frayn"

Science has increasingly become a main focus in British contemporary fiction: with reference to some works by widely known writers – like the so-called “Science Tetralogy” by the Irish John Banville, "Doctor Copernicus: A Novel" (1976), "Kepler" (1981), "The Newton Letter: An Interlude" (1982) and "Mefisto" (1986), or the more recent novel "Gut Symmetries" (1997) by Jeanette Winterson – this study aims to illustrate the complex and dynamic process through which literature is ever more being connected with important scientific concepts and/ or theories. The aspect is not restricted to fiction: as far as drama is concerned for instance, two much applauded works by the modern dramatists Tom Stoppard and Michael Frayn are here dealt with – "Arcadia" (1993) and "Copenhagen" (1998), respectively. There is evidence that science has, at least to some extent, gained access to poetry too. By reshaping the central idea of "third culture" originally proposed by Charles Percy Snow – the theorist of the “two cultures debate” – this study thus attempts to outline a “new situation” in which science and literature may be opponents no longer. This situation should properly be labelled (and defined) as the postmodern situation.