European crisis, fragmentation and cohesion: The contribution of ectopic literature to Europeanness

Abstract

This article deals with the current European crisis and with the role of literature in surmounting it alongside economic, social and political shifts. Literature is proposed as one of the supportive pillars of Europe, as the existence of European literature contributes to the idea of Europe itself. Literary writing and human travel and displacement are connected in order to analyse the constitution of ‘ectopic literature’. Since one of the constituents of literature is the contact of literatures and cultures and their mutual influences, the movements of writers inside and towards Europe reinforce the cross-cultural and hybrid nature of European literature and of Europe itself. Thus, ectopic literature boosts a network of cultural cohesion and contributes to the reinforcement of this idea of Europe as well as of Europeanness.