New perspectives on representations of nationalism and its discontents in literary discourses

These contributions offer fundamental insights into how literary works address and reconceptualize issues of nationalism, groupism, belonging and denationalization in selected European contexts. Various critical perspectives are employed here to highlight modern social and political processes as registered and, to a certain extent, also fashioned by contemporary literary discourses. 'Reimagined communities' emerge from literary redescriptions of existing or imaginary sociopolitical configurations in several European states or regions. All the contributions share a heightened sensitivity to the individual as enmeshed in oppressive geopolitical circumstances. Thereby, literary expressions of how individuality is constrained by social pressures may offer inspiring blueprints for emancipation.

Autorentext
Ryszard Bartnik is Associate Professor at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland. His research focuses on Northern Ireland, 'peace walls' and human rights. Leszek Drong is Professor of Humanities in the Institute of Literary Studies at the University of Silesia, Poland, and a Vice-President of the Polish Association for Irish Studies. Liliana Sikorska is Professor of English Literature and Head of the Department of English and Irish Literature and Literary Linguistics at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland.

Klappentext

These contributions offer penetrating insights into how literary works address and reconceptualize issues of nationalism, groupism, belonging and denationalization in selected European contexts. Various critical perspectives are employed here to highlight modern social and political processes as registered and, to a certain extent, also fashioned by contemporary literary discourses. 'Reimagined communities' emerge from literary redescriptions of existing or imaginary sociopolitical configurations in several European states or regions. All the contributions are marked by a heightened sensitivity to the individual as enmeshed in oppressive geopolitical circumstances. Thereby, literary expressions of how individuality is constrained by social pressures may offer inspiring blueprints for emancipation.