Research: World-making, Word-making: Narrative as Multiverse in Contemporary Anglo-American Fiction
Alberto Niccoli is a PhD candidate in English Literature, Language, and Translation Studies (Curriculum in Anglo-American Literature). He earned his BA in Languages, Literatures, and Intercultural Studies at the University of Florence in 2022 and his MA in English and Anglo-American Studies at Sapienza University of Rome in 2025, graduating with highest honors. His master’s thesis examined Herman Melville’s "Moby-Dick" through the lens of Schrödinger’s paradox and narrative indeterminacy, showing how literature and quantum theory share parallel epistemological and ontological models for exploring identity and the limits of observation. His PhD project, entitled "World-making, Word-making: Narrative as Multiverse in Contemporary Anglo-American Fiction", extends this research, situating it within the growing interest in contemporary American literature for integrating quantum logic into narrative. The project aims to demonstrate how fiction can function as a performative agent capable of enacting quantum laws — in particular, the Many-Worlds Interpretation — through its formal and cognitive mechanisms. His research interests include the intersection of narrative and science, the analysis of the conception and perception of truth, and the study of post-truth culture and its implications for contemporary society.