Embodying Europe in the Early-Modern Period

Research Seminar

  • Event on-site and online via Zoom
  • Date: May 19, 2022
  • Time: 04:30 PM - 06:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Nicolas Detering
  • Location: Villino Stroganoff, Via Gregoriana 22, 00187 Rom
  • Contact: rossi@biblhertz.it
Embodying Europe in the Early-Modern Period
In the early-modern period, a vibrant debate about Europe’s political fate, its borders, and its identity emerged. While travelogues enhanced the knowledge of non-European cultures, the growing news media contributed to the discourse on Europe as well by reporting continuously on its contemporary history.

How did visual and textual personifications of the continent play into this formation? How did metaphorical embodiments demarcate continental boundaries and contribute to the ‹westernisation› of Europe? The talk will present recent research on this topic and then argue that while personifications of Europe were deeply intertwined with questions of power and continental hegemony, they were also more inclusive than is generally known. It was not until the Enlightenment period that Russia and Turkey were generally excluded from the ‹civilization› of Europe.

Nicolas Detering is Professor of German Literature at the University of Berne. He is the author of Krise und Kontinent. Die Entstehung der deutschen Europaliteratur in der Frühen Neuzeit (2017). His most recent publications include Contesting Europe: Comparative Perspectives on Early Modern Discourses of Europe 1400-1800 (2020), with Clementina Marsico and Isabella Walser (eds.).

This event will take place on-site (without registration) and via Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2562379280?pwd=R2xiMGZZY2YyU1ppZnFPRTI2Ujd3dz09
Password: BH

Scientific Organization: Jana Graul

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