Do we still need Central Europe?

Abstract

Since the last enlargement of the European Union and the development of regional cooperation, the notion of Central Europe has certainly lost some of the importance and distinctiveness that it had before 1989. During the 20th century, Mitteleuropa and its different understandings – proposed by writers, historians or political figures – at times resembled a utopian vision erected against the actual geopolitical situation of the time. However, once dreams turned into reality, interest about the specificity of the region (in terms of mentality, culture, literature history) rapidly decreased. Today, a wider use of the category of Central-European is progressively (re)appearing in Austrian, French, and Polish research, and is leading towards discovering and exploring once again the common features of the region's history, as well as to reinterpret and put into a new perspective the canons established during the 19th century. The article aims at analyzing on the one hand past interpretations and uses of this categorical notion, and on the other at assessing its potential in the future of the field of literary studies.