The Fall of the Iron Curtain and the Culture of Europe

by Peter I. Barta (Editor)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415592376
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	04/11/2013
Series:	Routledge Contemporary Russia and Eastern Europe Series
Pages:	140
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

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.

Table of Contents

Foreword New Paradigms in Changing Spaces: An Introduction 1. The Wall Has Fallen on All of Us 2. Twenty Years after the Curtain Fell A Personal Account by an Austrian 3. The Rediscovery of Central Europe in the 1980s 4. Gulfs and Gaps—Prague and Lisbon—1989 and 2009 5. Borders in Mind or How to Re-invent Identities 6. The Iron Curtain, The Wall and Performative ‘Verfremdung’ 7. The Re-Emergence of National Cultures Following Independence in the Baltic States 8. Explosions, Shifts and Backtracking in Post-Soviet Fiction 9. Neither East Nor West: Polyphony and Deterritorialization in Contemporary European Fiction 10. The Fall of the Iron Curtain and the New Linguistic Landscape of East-Central Europe

Editorial Reviews

'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

From the Publisher