Riccardo Capoferro

Riccardo Capoferro is Associate Professor in the Department of European, American and Intercultural Studies at Sapienza University of Rome. He teaches English Literature II for both EAAS and SLLT programs, with office hours every Thursday from 15:00 to 17:00 in room 341 of the Marco Polo building (third floor, Verano side).

Capoferro earned his Laurea (1999) and PhD (2004) from Sapienza University of Rome, followed by an M.A. (2007) and Ph.D. (2009) from Rutgers University. He served as a research fellow at Sapienza from 2008 to 2011 before joining the faculty as a researcher in English Literature in December 2011.

His research focuses on the 18th century novel, the theory and history of the novel, Joseph Conrad and his afterlife, and the British Empire with its legacy and memory. He has published five monographs including 'Novel. La genesi del romanzo moderno nell'Inghilterra del Settecento' (2017) and 'Defoe: guida al Robinson Crusoe' (2003), along with numerous articles on English narrative from the 17th-19th centuries. His work bridges traditional literary studies with contemporary media forms, particularly examining Conrad's legacy across literature, film, and comics.

Capoferro's recent publications reveal a strong interest in literary canons and cultural hierarchies, exemplified by his 2022 edited volume 'The Esau Complex: Minor and Major Languages, Cultures, and Literatures?' which explores relationships between European nations and cultures. His scholarship demonstrates consistent engagement with how literary works circulate across time and media, acquiring new meanings in different contexts.

His significant research projects include 'Nostalgia for Empire: Literature, Culture, and the Political Imagination in Britain and France, 1980–2021,' 'Legal Institutions and the Culture of the Novel, 1720-1922,' and 'Novel, Nation, and Public Culture, 1700-1945.' He has also made notable contributions to the study of Italian twentieth-century culture, with essays on Primo Levi, Italo Calvino, Gianni Celati, and Hugo Pratt.