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Project

"Shaping “Belgian” literature before 1830

Up till now, most historical research on 18th century literature in the Southern Netherlands has disregarded its multicultural and multilingual dynamics, adopting a predominantly monocultural (either French or Flemish) perspective and thereby overlooking a wealth of archive material. The current project seeks to explore the nature and functioning of this highly heterogeneous, “proto-Belgian”, literary and cultural community, that took shape at the crossroads of more established literary traditions (France, England, Germany). This project combines methodologies and concepts of cultural history and literary studies, discourse analysis, transfer, reception studies and digital humanities to disclose the textual and cultural patterns that inform what could best be described as a cultural transfer zone. The project will focus on Flemish and French journals that were published and circulated in the Southern Netherlands during the 18th century. It will explore these by addressing two interrelated research questions, based on an inclusive definition of belles lettres: (1) first, it will address the journals’ functioning as a platform for the dynamic interplay of different types of discourse (intellectual, ideological, political, cultural); (2) second, it will map the multifarious insertion and transfer patterns – dealing with different, often more prestigious cultural traditions – that inform the pre-Belgian literary and intellectual production.

Date:1 Jan 2020 →  31 Dec 2023
Keywords:18th century literature in the Southern Netherlands, Flemish and French journals
Disciplines:Cultural history, Early modern literature, Literatures in French, Literatures in Dutch, National history