Novels and the Sociology of the Contemporary

<p>This book substantiates two claims. First the modern world was not simply produced by objective factors rooted in geographical discoveries and scientific inventions to be traced to economic technological or political factors but is the outcome of social cultural and spiritual processes. Among such factors beyond the Protestant ethic (Max Weber) the rise of the absolutist state and its disciplinary network (Michel Foucault) or court society (Norbert Elias) a prime role is played by theatre. The modern reality is deeply theatricalized. Second a special access for studying this theatricalized world is offered by novels. The best classical novels not simply can be interpreted as describing a world like the theatre but they capture and present a world that has become thoroughly transformed into a global theatre. The theatre effectively transformed the world and classical novels effectively analyze this theatricalized reality – much better than the main instruments supposedly destined to study reality philosophy and sociology. Thus instead of using the technique of sociology to analyze novels the book will treat novels as a royal road to analyze a theatricalized reality in order to find our way back to a genuine and meaningful life.</p>