Material Fictions: A Dialogue as Introduction

The co-editors of “Material Fictions” introduce the ECF special issue through a conversation about the interdisciplinary objectives that in spired the collection and the insights about materiality, interpretation, and the critical study of texts and objects that emerged from the collection. Addressing points of overlap as well as tension among the fields of art history, literary studies, and material culture studies, we consider how collaborative attention to materiality complicates hermeneutic models like “surface reading” or “form vs. context” and urges art and literary critical practice towards embodied forms of knowledge. We also discuss the etymological kinship of fictions and manufactured objects; the role of Aristotelian philosophy, thing theory, and other lines of thought across fields; and the role of pleasure in our disciplinary and interdisciplinary practices.