Archeology of Modern Seriality

In the seventeenth century, the conditions of existence underwent profound change for an ever-growing share of the population. Sweeping transformations reshaped mentalities, value systems, codes of conduct, notions of selfhood, imaginaries, aesthetic forms, and the media and cultural production systems. Serial fiction in literature, theatre, and melodrama was taking root in the major cities, while the information networks of merchants and diplomats gave rise to the first organised systems of periodical news. Serial formats soon permeated every aspect of the increasingly virtualised daily life of the affluent classesâ€Â"music, fashion, art, furniture, games, salons, cafs, seduction, food, and more.