The Representation of Transcultural Space in Contemporary German-Speaking Minority Literature in Europe
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MSCA-22-SEPP02
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Beschrijving van het project
The research project proposes to deal with the relationship between space and identity in German-language minority literature from multilingual areas such as South Tyrol, East Belgium, Northern Schleswig, Alsace, Silesia etc. written after 1989. The discourses of national belonging, of cultural self-definition and self-understanding which come to the fore in these literary texts, will be the object of my study. In the post-national constellation of Europe, a vigorous resurgence of German minority culture can be observed. The changing minority-majority relationship after the disappearance of the Iron Curtain and the related processes of Europeanization of opportunity structures for the political and cultural mobilization of language minorities has given a strong impetus to the visibility of minority literature. The border regions and enclaves the German- language authors to be studied here write from play an important role in their conception of Europe as a multi-centred space of democratic values. In their heterotopical writing, they reflect a variety of possible relationships to German culture as well as of the cultural, literary, and historical contexts of the countries of which they are citizens. Their literary significance cannot be grasped solely in relationship of one regional or national space of belonging. The protagonists in the novels or lyrical personae in the poems of these authors often collect experiences of space, piece them together into a patchwork, and endow them with value by drawing connections over time and space. The comparison with the context of minorities and multilingualism in the Balkans and other regions would be enlightening to the project, which could equally be adapted to the field of comparative literature.
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Centre for Literary and Intermedial Crossings
The Centre for Literary and Intermedial Crossings brings together researchers in the field of literary, theatre and performance studies. CLIC offers scholars an interdisciplinary network to stimulate research along three key concepts: Media, Genres and Spaces.
MEDIALiterature, theatre and performance traditionally belong to specific medial systems. However, these systems often interact in hybrid, intermedial ways. Definitions of intermediality range from a broad view on crossings between distinct media such as literature and theatre, to a more specific focus on the incorporation of one medium in another (e.g. the use of images or documentary material in literary texts). Methodological issues, too, challenge both practitioners and scholars.
GENRESThe generic classification systems of literature and media, based on stylistic and structural features, are never neutral or ahistorical categories. They produce and communicate meaning, and also change over time, in response to specific socio-cultural but also political and economic contexts. Authors and artists often consciously renew, transgress or mix genre conventions, and thus influence the reception of literature and theatre.
SPACESSpace has become an ever more influential and highly diversified theoretical category – ranging from the urban space of modernism to the contact zone of postcolonial theory and the rhizomatic network of the megalopolis. Through imaginary topographies and theatrical scenographies, transnational and multilingual identities are negotiated and disputed, as are new forms of politically committed artistic production.