RicERCatori in Evidenza - NONWESTLIT: avant-garde and modernity in the literatures of non-Western empires in the 19th century
Cultural reforms, linguistic renewal and literary renaissance movements in Russia, Turkey and Japan since the beginning of the 19th century: this is the focus of the European NONWESTLIT project, funded by the European Research Council.
Nestled on the border between West and East, the Turkish, Russian and Japanese empires experienced a profound political, literary, linguistic and cultural transformation in the 19th century. In this drive towards modernity, could literature have contributed to creating bridges and places of convergence between very different traditions and across national borders? Will it be possible to draw a new, polycentric map of modern literature? This is the challenge that the research group coordinated by Professor Özen Nergis Seckin Dolcerocca of the Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures is pursuing with the European NONWESTLIT project.
What are the contents and goals of the NONWESTLIT research project?
The European NONWESTLIT project, funded by the European Research Council, aims to study the cultural reforms, linguistic renovations and literary renaissance movements that took place from the early 19th century in three imperial traditions: Russia, Turkey and Japan. The starting hypothesis is that shared historical experience led to the formation of a common literary vocabulary and shared narrative patterns, and to demonstrate this we will investigate structural similarities between Russian, Turkish and Japanese literatures.
What are the elements that make this research particularly innovative in terms of content and method?
The study will be conducted comparatively, on a large number of texts and also with the help of artificial intelligence. Similarities will be sought in types of fiction, in concepts related to literary criticism and in translation practices. The analysed texts, many of them unknown, will be made available to readers and researchers, expanding digital humanities studies towards the new frontier of non-Western literatures.
What do you see as the benefits to society?
Our research team will digitally transfer hundreds of thousands of pages of novels, short stories and articles of literary criticism dating back to the 19th century and published in the three empires, with the aim of creating a large archive of original and translated texts. This unique archive will be freely accessible online and can help us understand what strategies intellectuals and authors of the time used to bridge the gap between East and West in the early 19th century.
When you heard that the project had won ERC funding, how did you feel? What does this recognition mean for your research path?
It was a wonderful surprise, which also came at the end of the difficult period of the pandemic. It was the first time I had applied to the European Research Council for ERC funding: the news of winning was an important recognition of the quality of my research and of my way of understanding of scientific research.
How far has the NONWESTLIT research project progressed and what results has it achieved so far?
Although the project has only just started, we have a full team of international researchers from Italy, Russia, Japan, Turkey, the USA and Finland. We are already working on our database, analysing a large amount of data both qualitatively and quantitatively. Anyone interested can participate in our online seminars and events via the project website.
RicERCatori in Evidenza is the column dedicated to the University of Bologna's cutting-edge research funded by the European Research Council-ERC and its protagonists.