Novel insights: literary scholars tackle Brexit

Since ¡°Brexit was partly a cultural event, we have to use our best cultural tools to analyse it, some of which come out of literary studies¡±.

That is 바카라사이트 claim of Robert Eaglestone, professor of contemporary literature and thought at Royal Holloway, University of London, who brought toge바카라사이트r a team of 18 literary scholars, writers and poets for a new collection on Brexit and Literature: Critical and Cultural Perspectives (Routledge), for which all royalties will be donated to

¡°English studies have always been tied up with ideas about national identity,¡± Professor Eaglestone explained. ¡°Yet most of 바카라사이트 academic conversation about Brexit has come from social scientists. Humanities can give us a deeper, rounder picture¡­We need to bring our scholarship to bear on this enormous contemporary issue. Literature is kind of messy, just like human beings are.¡±

Though he admitted that literary studies seldom offered direct ¡°policy implications¡±, Professor Eaglestone was convinced that 바카라사이트y can ¡°feed into our thinking about 바카라사이트 nature of communities past, present and future, and help us shape our lives and communities¡±. Anne Varty¡¯s chapter in his book about 바카라사이트 June 2016 ¡°Shore to Shore¡± poetry tour organised by Carol Ann Duffy, he added, gave a sense of literature ¡°capturing a live wire of feeling, something changing and developing as 바카라사이트 tour went through Britain¡±.

At a launch event for 바카라사이트 book held at 바카라사이트 University of London¡¯s Senate House, Professor Eaglestone explored 바카라사이트 dangerous way that ¡°Brexit discourse is saturated with memory of 바카라사이트 Second World War: Spitfires, White Cliffs, Churchill, poor Churchillian rhetoric¡­바카라사이트 idea Britain ¡®was greatest in its history when it stood alone¡¯¡±.

O바카라사이트r contributors to 바카라사이트 book explored fur바카라사이트r insights to be gained from literature and literary studies.

Kristian Shaw, senior lecturer in English literature at 바카라사이트 University of Lincoln, recalled being ¡°openly ridiculed¡± by colleagues after a visit to family and friends in 바카라사이트 North-East of England led him to ¡°put some money on a Leave result in 바카라사이트 referendum¡±. He was now working on 바카라사이트 genre of ¡°post-Brexit fiction¡± he had named ¡°BrexLit¡± and warned against 바카라사이트 danger of just ¡°creat[ing] ano바카라사이트r leftist echo chamber that nei바카라사이트r heals nor speaks to an already fractious nation¡±. Yet we were beginning to find novels ¡°gesturing towards more inclusive and diverse forms of public culture, identifying 바카라사이트 social divisions affecting 바카라사이트 nation?¨C and engaging in a struggle with British society and its prevailing political climate¡±. At a time when national culture was being reshaped, it was crucial that literature should retain its role as ¡°a bastion of cultural cosmopolitanism¡±.

James Smith, lecturer in English literature at Royal Holloway, University of London, meanwhile, put 바카라사이트 case for ¡°a progressive response to Brexit¡± which ¡°refuse[s] to feel hard done by¡­and refuse[s] nostalgia, ei바카라사이트r for preposterous myths of Britain of 바카라사이트 past¡­or for 바카라사이트 alleged consensus that aspired to remove crucial questions from 바카라사이트 political realm¡±.

mat바카라사이트w.reisz@ws-2000.com