Exporting European values? Political myths of liberal democracy and cultural diversity in creative Europe’s literary translation projects

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper examines the role of political myths in the European Commission’s cultural policy strategy. First, it describes the function of political myths in EU identity-building, outlines the Commission’s promotion of common European values through cultural policy, and notes a fault line between the European institutions’ identity-building strategies. Second, the paper points out that political myths obfuscate historical differences between European states. Third, an analysis of Creative Europe’s literary translation project descriptions reveals that projects translating from Western towards Eastern and Southern language areas explicitly promote value-based political myths. Moreover, in countries with budding nationalist sentiments, the European Commission funds translation projects that reinforce a state-like EU identity based on myths of liberal democracy and cultural diversity while embedding European values into a narrative of initial formation, decline in crisis, and future revival. It concludes that Creative Europe highlights the gap between the EU institutions’ identity-building strategies.