The Cartography of the Political Novel (CAPONEU)

This cross-European project analyses the political novel, in North, South, West and Eastern Europe. It does so working with educational, third sector and policy groups to explore the cross European history of the political novel, its place in education, and its role in thinking contemporary crises such as climate change and populism.

The Cartography of the Political Novel (CAPONEU) sets out to examine how people in different national and cultural contexts engage with contemporary political issues and thereby have their share in shaping European societies and politics in the 21st century. This is done through the prism of an extraordinary aesthetic and social phenomenon that we call the political novel in Europe, which is gaining prominence not only in strictly delimited literary circles but in European societies at large.

Given this new relevance of political writing, CAPONEU’s goal is to assess the political novel as an important element of the European cultural heritage and as a tool for community building and European advocacy.

The consortium brings together an interdisciplinary research team that seeks not only to unpack the rich literary heritage of the twentieth century but also (through collaboration with a wide range of actors) to make the political novel in Europe experiences relevant to our present. It allows us to understand how perceptions formed by different beliefs, values, traditions, economy, history, culture, age and gender are reflected in the political novel in Europe as a specific literary genre, and how and why this genre re-emerges as a social factor today.

Thus, not only the representation of beliefs and traditions in the PNE will be analysed, but also the role of the political novel in Europe itself in shaping and changing perspectives on the individual, the state, the economy, and especially on Europe’s historical and cultural past. Aware that the European project has been destabilised in recent decades by crises (economic and political crises, migrations, the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change), the question now is how the European heritage of the political novel in Europe can become active in strengthening the resilience of European societies to crises. Given the simultaneous resurgence of various forms of populism and/or authoritarianism, a subsequent recession, and, most recently, war with unpredictable consequences, answering this question will be crucial for the future of Europe.

The University of Brighton is responsible for Work Package 3: Fictions of the Political: Politics of Fiction.

A substantial part of the research within the Consortium draws on the political-theoretical expertise of the Brighton Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics (CAPPE).

Their research focus on the category of the political in contemporary thought interrogates the distinction between rhetoric and reason, especially how fictions narrate our ideas of the political. It builds on recent work on political ontology that views the political as the dominant way in which a symbolic imaginary is established (in this case, Europe, its margins and EU member states grappling with their national imaginaries); black pessimist critiques of the very possibility of a political ontology; the rhetorical turn in political studies; queer and decolonial critiques of the dominant framing of the political.

This line of research addresses the challenge that literary and cultural theorists and historians use the fashionable terms ‘politics’ and ‘the political’ without having registered the related political-theoretical debate that is at least 50 years old. With the aim of sharpening and decluttering the conceptual framework, the Brighton team organised the projects 2nd annual conference “Fictions of the political”. The Brighton team will also facilitate the political-theoretical ‘training’ of literary and cultural scholars and other Consortium members, which will be maintained through annual research workshops with key academics working in this field.

CAPONEU is coordinated by University of Zagreb and brings together eight partners, five of which have received funding from the European Union’s Horizon research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101094658. The other three partners, University of Brighton, Cambridge University and Autonomy are funded by Innovate UK as part of the Guarantee Fund which underwrites successful Horizon Europe bids involving UK partners.
Grant References: 10061848, 10051867, 10073486