Raul Mordenti
The other criticism

Literary criticism wasn’t ever there, and wont last forever. Moving from this provocative assumption, Mordenti shows how literary criticism, as we currently know it, came to light (together with the modern concept of “literature”). However, this “founding” process – grounded on cultural, epistemological, social features – was intrinsically bounded within the limits of middle-class reason. The current crisis of criticism, argues the author, is due to the rise of a new globalized capitalist world and a new rhetoric of mass media. But this crisis could also open up new spaces of freedom – mainly through the Cultural Studies reviewed in the light of Gramsci’s thought: this is the “other criticism” Mordenti deals with, whose main purpose is addressing Otherness – i.e. the most important factor of knowledge and development of critical thought.