Divenire cani: la soggettività canina nella letteratura anglofona vittoriana e modernista

Merging contributions from the field of Critical Animal Studies as well as queer theory, cultural studies and literary critique, this study seeks to account for the representation of dogs both as embodied realities and as literary devices. From the coming-of-age narratives of the late Victorian period to the stylistics innovations of Modernism, the dog is a liminal subject that queers the boundaries of human and non-human, suggesting alternative paths to navigate a dichotomy that has validated a systematic exploitation and abuse of non-human lives. Mingling their personal experiences with their artful poetics, the authors are analyzed with a comprehensive methodology that assesses the embodied dog behind the literary dog and contextualizes the literary works within the historic and cultural debate in which they are framed.