The Project and the Surprise: Invisible, ‘Sensitive Space’ and Meanings in Writing and Reading Stories

Abstract

This collection of empirical observations argues for a more flexible and receptive approach to the dynamics of production and participation in fiction and literary texts. Sketching out both the actors in and the stages of these activities from a bird's eye view, this paper explores their relationships, plunging into the multi-layered nature of texts. Additionally, its ecological orientation takes up a new challenge, that is, to grasp the inescapable role played by the Invisible in the devising and creation of stories. Outlined within a framework of practical tests and best practices, the hypothesis of a sensitive space together with its features, summarised by the triad simultaneity-compresence-multiplicity, allows sensing, in the symbolic guise of stop-motion frames or watermarks, the intense activity of the meanings that filter through the gestures of writing and reading stories.

Keywords:

• creative writing
• writing
• storytelling
• empirical study of literature
• meaning
• education

Notes on contributor

A writer, playwright, and drama critic, Giampaolo Spinato has contributed to several newspapers and magazines since 1985. Lecturer at the Catholic University of Milan since 2009, he was adjunct Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage, Ca‘ Foscari University of Venice, as well as lecturer at the Faculty of Communications, Public Relations, and Advertising, IULM University Milan between 2013 and 2014. He also taught at the State University of Milan (2006–2008). Recently hired as Professor of Dramatic History at the Academy of Fine Arts, Spinato has also worked with the New Academy of Fine Arts. Among the first to start creative writing courses in Italy with his Bartleby Factory in Milan, he collaborates with public and private schools, universities, and theatres. With a degree in Performing Arts Disciplines with a thesis on Paul Auster from the University of Bologna, he undertook classical studies, graduating from the Drama School of Art. Awards: 2013, “Fuck Me(n) – Studies on the evolution of the male gender” – Best Monologue Ex aequo at Young Theatre Reality Award, Udine; 2008, Isimbardi Prize of the Province of Milan; 2001, “B.” – Recommended at the Riccione Prize for Theatre; 1999, “Il cuore rovesciato” – Prize Selection Campiello; Alassio Prize ‘An Author for Europe’, final; 1996, “Pony Express” – Prize Bergamo, final. An early version of this paper was presented at 14th Conference of the International Society for the Empirical Study of Literature and Media (IGEL 2014, Turin, Italy – 21–25 July)