Published by E|C (the journal of AISS - Associazione Italiana di Studi Semiotici) on the occasion of the centenary of Proust’s death.

The present issue of Between contains the proceedings of the 2014 Compalit annual conference, The Political Imaginary: Commitment, Resistance, Ideology (Bologna, 17-19 December 2014). It was a brimming, vibrant conference with eleven plenary speeches, over a hundred papers delivered in parallel sessions, the presentation of the previous issue of Between, the launch of the textbook on Comparative Literature edited by Francesco de Cristofaro, and a passionate and crowded evening round table with two members from the Wu Ming collective. Most of the papers presented in Bologna appear in this very rich issue. Clearly, much has changed since the original conception and elaboration of the conference programme: during the presentations and in the ensuing discussions, novel perspectives, reflections and questions have been raised, and many of them have been taken up in the essays collected here. The broad scope of the present issue and the multiplicity of points of view, competences and critical approaches epitomize the dissonance and complexity of the topic under discussion.

In presenting this special issue on Technology, Imagination, Narrative Forms (4.8, 2014), the editors’ aim is to provide an overview of theories, methodologies and texts useful to frame the latest developments of storytelling and their cross-fertilization with digital cultures. The varied interconnections between literature and technology are explored considering the ways in which the articles contained in the different sections of the journal respond to issues such as: the thematic or metaphoric representations of new or futuristic technologies in literature; the interaction between digital culture and more ‘traditional’ literary forms – from digital versions of classics to the use of IT technologies to facilitate experimental narrative techniques; the transformation of narrative under the influence of new media environments; the growth of transmedia storytelling and fanfiction as typical expressions of the new convergent and participative culture.