Nicoletta Pireddu
Georgetown University (Washington, DC 20057-0001)
FA-52436-06
Fellowships for University Teachers
Research Programs
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[Grant products][Media coverage]
Totals:
$40,000 (approved)
$40,000 (awarded)
Grant period:
7/1/2007 – 6/30/2008
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The Fiction of Europe, Europe in Fiction
Starting from the hypothesis that invention and imagination play a greater role than historical and cultural cohesiveness in Europe’s self-definition, my book project has two aims. 1) To analyze the ambivalent uses of "fictionality" in the building of the concept of Europe in various areas of the humanities, both as a positive founding myth and as a fantasy generating skepticism. 2) To examine the neglected role of literature in the production of Europeanness as a cultural construction. How does literature shape an author's European consciousness as content and form? How do European or Europeanized writers depict Europe? In what ways do they enrich and problematize theories of cultural identity, contributing to the larger debate on Europe?
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