Re-Thinking Europe

Re-Thinking Europe sets out to investigate the place of the idea of Europe in literature and comparative literary studies. The essays in this collection turn to the past, in which Europe became synonymous with a tradition of peace and tolerance beyond national borders, and enter into a critical dialogue with the present, in which Europe has increasingly become associated with a history of oppression and violence. The different essays together demonstrate how the idea of Europe cannot be thought apart from the tension between the regional and the global, between nationalism and pluralism, and can therefore be re-thought as an opportunity for an identity beyond national or ethnic borders. Engaging contemporary discourses on hybrid, postcolonial, and transnational identity, this volume shows how literature can function as both a vital tool to forge new identities and a power subversive of such attempts at identity-formation. Like Europe, it is always marked by the tension between integration and resistance. The book will be of interest to students and scholars of modern literature, comparative literature, and European studies, as well as people concerned with cultural memory and the relation between literature and cultural identity.

Nele Bemong is currently a postdoctoral fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders (Belgium) at the K.U.Leuven. She has published articles on the nineteenth- and early twentieth-century novel in Belgium (mainly on the historical novel and the work of the novelist Stijn Streuvels) and on the contemporary novel.
Mirjam Truwant is a research assistant at the K.U.Leuven and is currently pursuing a PhD degree in German Literature. Her research focus is on nineteenth and early twentieth century German biographies by and of women writers. She has published articles on Ödön von Horváth, biographical writing and women’s literature.
Pieter Vermeulen is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the K.U.Leuven. He has published articles on contemporary critical theory and on the contemporary novel. He is also the co-editor, with Theo D’haen, of Cultural Identity and Postmodern Writing (Rodopi, 2006).