UNA REPUBBLICA LETTERARIA DIGITALE

The advent of digital media has profoundly transformed the literary sphere, affecting both the production and consumption of content. While numerous studies have examined these changes descriptively, this work seeks to provide a more nuanced theoretical understanding of the interactions between technology, literature, and society. By focusing on digital spaces where literary communities take shape, the analysis highlights the dynamics that shape contemporary practices of reading, interpretation, and discussion. Bridging historical-theoretical perspectives and digital contexts, this work contributes to understanding how literary practices evolve in the digital age and offers a framework for rethinking intellectual communities. To provide greater historical and theoretical depth, the first part explores various forms of Literary Republics in Western literary and philosophical traditions. It examines how historical, philosophical, and technological transformations have shaped evolving ideas of intellectual community. The discussion begins with an analysis of the community of knowledge in Plato's Republic, characterized by the eradication of conflict. It then compares this to the humanist-Enlightenment Republic of Letters, envisioned by Pierre Bayle as a space for critical freedom and intellectual debate. Drawing on reflections of Gadamer and Dewey, the study then addresses the neutralization of art and demonstrates how the dominance of science has contributed to a distorted view of literature’s truth regime. Building on philosophical hermeneutics, the work proposes a different conception of literary truth and outlines a model of an interpretative community grounded in dialogue and interpretation. The second part focuses on the contemporary digital ecosystem to examine the possibility of a digital literary republic. After introducing reading practices in the screen-based environment, it examines the social dimension of reading through diverse literary communities. A dedicated chapter analyzes Goodreads, the world's most popular review platform, focusing on its structure and the critical practices of its users. Another chapter investigates TikTok, exploring the BookTok community and the attentional regimes shaped by the platform. The final chapter reflects on the need to establish new mental infrastructure to support the emergence of a new digital literary republic.