Pia Masiero

Pia Masiero is a Full Professor of North-American Literature at Ca' Foscari University of Venice, where she also serves as Delegate for Teaching and Vice Director of the Department of Linguistics and Comparative Cultural Studies. She holds a PhD from the University of California, Irvine, and specializes in American literature, literary theory, and authors such as David Foster Wallace and Philip Roth. Her research explores themes like empathy in literature, narrative techniques, and postmodernism. She has led an Erasmus+ project (2015–2017) on international academic mobility and contributes to the editorial board of Philip Roth Studies.

Education:

• PhD in North-American Literature, University of California, Irvine

Research Interests:

Her work focuses on contemporary North-American literature, particularly narrative structures, authorial intent, and the intersection of literature with philosophy and cognitive sciences. She has published extensively on David Foster Wallace’s narratological approaches and Philip Roth’s fictional worlds. Recent studies include analyses of empathy mechanisms in reading and the role of non-empathy in fictional narratives.

Grants & Projects:

• Erasmus+ (2015–2017): International Credit Mobility, role: Project Leader (LD)

Labs/Teams:

She collaborates with research groups including colleagues Stefano MASO and Chiara SACCON on projects involving postmodern narrative techniques and interdisciplinary literary criticism.