Lotte per il potere accademico e stregoneria. La rappresentazione della sociologia nel romanzo “Conjure Wife” di Fritz Leiber

According to various literature reviews, American fiction has represented sociologists through negative stereotypes: use of pseudoscientific jargon, extreme competitiveness in social relationships, a tendency to aggressive and unconventional behavior. The article examines how sociology is represented in a horror novel first published in 1943, Conjure Wife by Fritz Leiber. Hitherto neglected by the reviews that have examined the representation of sociology in American fiction, this novel deserves attention because it detaches itself from the aforementioned negative stereotypes. Indeed, there is a substantial harmony between the point of view of the narrator and the point of view of the protagonist, professor of sociology in a small college. In the sensationalist ways of a horror novel, Conjure Wife evokes crucial questions of sociology, such as the possibility of identifying universal laws of human behavior and the possibility of mathematizing the sociological explanation.