D’une improbable litterature européenne a la faible epaisseur historique de l’Union Européenne

• Main Author: Jean-Yves Mollier
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Association Portugaise d'Etudes Françaises 2010-06-01
• Series: Carnets
• Subjects: European literature; Nation; Patrimony
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/carnets/5294

To speak of “European literature” is to a large extent a pious hope or part of a political vision of reality. In spite of numerous declarations in favour of it, the construction of a Europe of Nations flies into pieces as soon as a slightly serious crisis occurs and whenever one or another country's private interests come to the surface. The writers' Parliament lasted less than ten years and no one can consider it successful, its disappearance reflecting the exhaustion of such utopian dreams. In the absence of any hope to artificially create a “European literature”, it is preferable to act for the recognition of the great transnational literatures in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, etc., feeding on all the voices speaking in each of these languages independently of their belonging to a particular state or nation.