The communicative dignity of a message, whether it be the nucleus of a literary text, of a linguistic act or of a historiographical event, depends in large part on the role played by the addressee, who is both an implicitly genetic agent and a compromising constitutive factor.  From the aesthetics of reception to the "interpretive cooperation" (Eco) and to the plural readings of Finnegans Wake, the reader plays a crucial role in both literary hermeneutics and philological research: be it a real or imaginary interlocutor, or the connection between the author and his text, the reader stands beyond literary forms and genres, conscious (or perhaps not) of being the central pivot of any process of cultural production. In the field of linguistics as well, the addressee plays, like the addresser, an essential role in the construction of the discourse, whether spoken or written. The recipient is not only responsible for the passive reception of the message, but also for guiding the addresser’s linguistic and textual choices; he controls the fate of every linguistic act, namely, comprehension, interpretation and reconstruction by means of an appropriate pragmatic competence which governs communication. Similarly, historiography, recognizing a discrepancy between the mythical world and real life and attempting to smooth it, or concentrating its observations on contemporary events in order to eliminate the clashes between that world and the data offered by other proven experiences, finds its genesis and its raison d'être in offering the reader schemes and interpretative tools in search of a truth regarded as strictly different from the myth and from the public and instrumental use of History.
 
    The Graduate Conference Dipsum proposes an investigation on this topic, involving the three scientific fields pertaining to the PhD Programme in Literature, Linguistics and Historical Studies, and resorting to either newer or well-established methodological perspectives. The aim is that of developing a framework for the topic proposed in the context of an interdisciplinary dialogue. 
Some of the focal points of the Conference on which to converge are reported below: 

LITERATURE AND MODERN FILOLOGY 
 The author and the construction of his audience: the statute of the reader between classicism and crisis. From the sociological premises of the choice of the genre to the meta-narrative expedient of the appeal to the reader.
 
 The phenomenon of textual reception: the material act of lectura and the interaction between text and reader.
 
 Receivers of fiction and occasional receivers: meditation on the para-textual threshold of the dedication text and on the epistolary option in prose and verse.
 

LINGUISTICS
 The reader/hearer in written and / or spoken communication: from the imaginary reader to the constructor of dialogic interaction. Reflections on the communication strategies that contribute to the felicitous comprehension of the message.
 
 Linguistic politeness: instructions for use. Insights on the trends of the speakers in the use of address forms in both formal and informal registers.
 
 The interlocutor in foreign languages teaching: types of adaptation of teaching methods to the individual variables of the learner (linguistic background, age, learning disabilities).
 
MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY HISTORY
 Crisis of History or crisis of historians? The role of History and historians from the 1960s to Today in the public debate.
 
 Public History and Communication: the audience at the centre of the historiographical debate as the first beneficiary of the research. Methods, forms and techniques of the new historiographical frontiers.
 
 Forms of mass media information: use and abuse of History in the world of social media. From Facebook pages to thematic blogs, new vehicles for the formation of individual and collective perception of History.
 
 
All PhD students and doctors interested are asked to send in an abstract in both .doc and .pdf formats of 300-500 words, title and references excluded, to gradconfdipsum2018@unisa.it by 6th July 2018. Abstracts should also include: applicant’s name and surname, e-mail address, affiliation, position, and reference to the thematic area of the contribution. The organizing committee will send notification of acceptance not later than 6th September 2018. 
Accepted speakers will have 15-20 minutes to present their contribution, which will subsequently have to be submitted for the Conference Proceedings publication. 
    All expenses will have to be covered by participants. For further information, please, visit the Graduate Conference website (https://gradconfdipsum18.wixsite.com/unisa) or send an email to the Committee (gradconfdipsum2018@unisa.it).

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