在過去的十年左右，社會學、人類學、人文等領域的一些學者倡導“轉向物件／物質” （喬伊斯和貝內特7 ） 。這顯然旨在挑戰過去所謂的“轉向語言”的研究關注。物件／物質研究始於物件的物理性，而且追朔他們在獨立於人類干預的條件下，彼此互動的效果，。在某種意義而言，這個側重物件／物質的研究關懷起於拉圖爾（Bruno Latour）對社會理論重思的影響。
本課程探問如何閱讀的小說中的物件。過往，在人類中心主義的驅動下，物件已經退居到人文學科研究的邊緣。現在將物件視為學術的關注核心，以便更適切地描繪出小說人物和事物的相互塑造。要做到這一點，首要的任務是回顧在過去十年中新出現的，以物件為中心的理論。三個主要部分到對應1）物件的理論，2）生命政治，3）政治經濟的主題。同時，在每個部分，我們也將進行案例研究，了解閱讀的方法如何可以從象徵，主體性，敘事等重點改為新的關注。
In the last decade or so, some scholars in the fields of sociology, anthropology and humanities have been advocating “a material turn” (Joyce and Bennett 7). This obviously aims to challenge the so-called linguistic turn. Material studies commences with the physicality of things and effects of them upon one another, independent of human intervention. In a sense, the arrival of a new emphasis on materials results from the impact that Bruno Latour’s theory of network makes.
This seminar asks the question of how to read things in a novel. Things have been relegated to the margin by the anthropocentric drive in the humanities, and one is obliged to bring things back to the scholarly concern to better depict the mutual shaping of characters and things in novels. To do so, the primary task is to survey the newly emergent and divergent things-centered theories in the last decade. The three main sections are divided to correspond to the trends of things theories, biopolitics, political economy. Equally important, in each section we will also conduct a case study for understanding how the methods of reading can be changed from the focuses of symbols, subjectivity, and narrative to new concerns.