Projects
Evaluation of literature by professional and layperson critics: A digital and literary sociological analysis of evaluative talk of literature through the prism of literary prizes (2007-2017) Ghent University
Recently, the manager of a Dutch publishing consortium manager stated that literary quality should
be measured and predicted by means of algorithms and big data-based audience research, rather
than by experts. His claim drew ire and caused the exodus of many of established authors; at the
same time, the statement is indicative of a broader societal trend in which the knowledge of
professional 'pundits' is rivalled and ...
Outsider literature in Belgium, 1968-2008. A polysystemic analysis. KU Leuven
The Slavonic Metaphrasis of Byzantine Orthodoxy. A Digital Inventory of South Slavonic Translation Literature applied to Research on Translated Authority and Linked Texts KU Leuven
Medieval Slavonic literature consists mostly of translations of Byzantine Greek works. It is a normative literature deeply imbued with a sense of tradition and religious and textual orthodoxy, but at the same time it is the product of the inherently transformative process of translation (metaphrasis). With this project we address these normative and transformative tendencies that have shaped the textual culture of the Slavonic Middle Ages. We ...
On the crossroads of literature and science. The essayist and the scientific field in Huxley, Ortega y Gasset and KU Leuven
The general aim of this thesis is to provide a study of the interdiscursive relations (Maingueneau 2004) between literature and science during the period of 1900-1950. More specifically we will study these interactions within the essayistic work of three writers – Paul Valéry (1871-1945), José Ortega y Gasset (1873-1955) and Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) – whose fascination with science has often been analyzed in the past (Robinson-Valéry 1983; ...
Multilingualism, translation and minor languages in contemporary world literature KU Leuven
Since its emergence in the 18th century, monolingualism has had a strong impact on literature and culture. Despite its avowed global perspective, world literature still leans towards monolingualism. Not only does it focus on writers who write in major languages, while peripheral regions and minor languages are off the map, but it also favours monolingual works. Multilingual texts are often considered untranslatable or incomprehensible, which ...
"Shaping “Belgian” literature before 1830 KU Leuven
Up till now, most historical research on 18th century literature in the Southern Netherlands has disregarded its multicultural and multilingual dynamics, adopting a predominantly monocultural (either French or Flemish) perspective and thereby overlooking a wealth of archive material. The current project seeks to explore the nature and functioning of this highly heterogeneous, “proto-Belgian”, literary and cultural community, that took shape ...
Biofictions of Border-Crossing: A World Literature for Outsiders KU Leuven
Following recent developments in the growing field of biofiction studies, this project analyses biographical novels with a social justice component from the perspective of World Literature. The selected corpus includes recent novels set in all continents and in various historical periods, allowing me to map the world-span of contemporary biofiction and its figuration of the dimension of deep time. While all these texts thematize ...
The translation and intermedial adaptation of multimodal children's literature. University of Antwerp
Otherworldly Powers? Narrative Functions of the Supernatural in Flemish and Congolese Literature before and after Congo’s Independence (1945-1975) Ghent University
Between 1945 and 1975, magical powers, curses and transcendent visions played a decisive role in Flemish literature about Congo, shaping the narrative and evoking different worldviews. Impossible phenomena in science fiction or fantastic literature have similar functions, but, unlike these genres, the supernatural elements in the Flemish literature about Congo have a religious undertone. This is explained by the strong missionary presence of ...