Porcelain Publishing / CT / Volume 9 / Issue 1 / DOI: 10.47297/wspctWSP2515-470204.20250901
ARTICLE

Which 'Distance'? Who Plays a Role?: Revisiting Gramsci's 'Theory of Distance' 

Jingsong Zhang1
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1 School of International Chinese Studies, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200333, China
© Invalid date by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

In contrast to the 'theory of psychic distance' which originating from the Enlightenment, Gramsci's 'theory of distance' breaks free from the 'formalist' approach in literary and art criticism. This new theory of 'distance' is deeply rooted in Gramsci's reflections on Italian literary issues and is more closely tied to his further extension and elaboration of the Marxist theory of the superstructure—an aspect that has been overlooked in previous studies of Gramsci's 'theory of distance.' Gramsci employs the notion of 'maintaining distance' to emphasize that 'modern, intelligent' readers must not uncritically enter the author's 'ideological world. ' Instead, they should actively adopt a 'national-popular' stance in their critique, becoming organic intellectuals engaged in the struggle for national-popular hegemony.

Keywords
Gramsci
Theory of Distance
National-Popular
Organic Intellectual
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