Literary Knowledge (1890-1950): Modernisms and the Sciences in Europe.

This research project studies the ways in which literary texts of the modernist period (ca 1890-ca 1950) select, mediate, transform and disseminate scientific knowledge according to the principles of the functionally differentiated institutions and discourses of literature. The project more specifically charts the relationships between the life sciences, natural sciences, social sciences and the humanities on the one hand, and Western European literary texts from highbrow to lowbrow, representative of different genres and cultures, on the other hand. The project maximally exploits the strengths in comparative literary analysis present in the KU Leuven literary studies department and the MDRN research lab (www.mdrn.be).

Keywords:Comparative Literature, Modernism Studies, Avant-Garde Studies, Literature and Science

Disciplines:Language studies, Literary studies, Theory and methodology of language studies, Theory and methodology of linguistics, Theory and methodology of literary studies, Other languages and literary studies