1st Edition

The Fall of the Iron Curtain and the Culture of Europe

Edited By Peter I. Barta Copyright 2013
    140 Pages
    by Routledge

    140 Pages
    by Routledge

    The end of communism in Europe has tended to be discussed mainly in the context of political science and history. This book, in contrast, assesses the cultural consequences for Europe of the disappearance of the Soviet bloc. Adopting a multi-disciplinary approach, the book examines the new narratives about national, individual and European identities that have emerged in literature, theatre and other cultural media, investigates the impact of the re-unification of the continent on the mental landscape of Western Europe as well as Eastern Europe and Russia, and explores the new borders in the form of divisive nationalism that have reappeared since the disappearance of the Iron Curtain.

    Foreword Katalin Bogyay  New Paradigms in Changing Spaces: An Introduction Peter I. Barta  1. The Wall Has Fallen on All of Us Dubravka Ugresic  2. Twenty Years after the Curtain Fell A Personal Account by an Austrian Gabriele Matzner-Holzer  3. The Rediscovery of Central Europe in the 1980s Catherine Horel  4. Gulfs and Gaps--Prague and Lisbon--1989 and 2009 Wolfgang Müller-Funk  5. Borders in Mind or How to Re-invent Identities Rüdiger Görner  6. The Iron Curtain, The Wall and Performative ‘Verfremdung’ Annelis Kuhlmann  7. The Re-Emergence of National Cultures Following Independence in the Baltic States Charles de Chassiron  8. Explosions, Shifts and Backtracking in Post-Soviet Fiction Hélène Mélat  9. Neither East Nor West: Polyphony and Deterritorialization in Contemporary European Fiction Maria Rubins  10. The Fall of the Iron Curtain and the New Linguistic Landscape of East-Central Europe Michael Moser

    Biography

    Peter I. Barta is Professor of Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies at the University of Surrey, UK

    Foreword writer Katalin Bogyay is President of the General Conference of UNESCO and Hungary’s Ambassador to UNESCO. In 1999 she founded the Hungarian Cultural Centre in London and served as its director between 1999 and 2005.

    'The Fall of the Iron Curtain and the Culture of Europe, brought about in close collaboration between academic scholars and diplomats committed to advancing intercultural dialogue, will make a significant contribution'Katalin Bogyay, President of the General Conference of UNESCO and Hungary’s Ambassador to UNESCO