Review of the Research Institute for History and - Universiteit Utrecht

with prof. Jan Bank) en Fokkema himself (editor of Accounting for the Past: 1650-2000, in cooperation with dr
Frans Grijzenhout).
With his internationally acclaimed studies on Postmodernism, prof. Hans Bertens expanded Fokkema’s
authoritative studies on literary modernism. Bertens and Fokkema together also edited several international
volumes on Modernism and Postmodernism, with contributions by several Utrecht scholars. During the
period under review the programme maintained and reinforced its reputation in the fi eld of poetry research.
Research interest oscillated between the detailed study of text corpora of individual poets and the broader
study of movements and groups in a cultural context. This resulted in numerous contributions to the history
of Dutch poetry.
A new line of research is the study of the role of narrative fi ction in the formation of European cultural
memory in the modern period. Within the framework of this general project, prof. Ann Rigney is currently
writing a book on the cultural afterlife of the work of Walter Scott. This project is embedded in the network
Cultural Memory in Europe (ACUME). Work by dr Ewout van der Knaap on the representation of the
Holocaust, and by dr Ben Peperkamp on the relation between 19 th -century poetry, protestant theology and
the popularization of natural science, employ the same angle of cultural history.
A growing area is translation studies, which in Utrecht is uniquely combined with the practice of translating
as such. Theoretical and historical refl ection on translation is currently further developed in a project on
literary translations in the Dutch literary system (“cultural dialogue”, in close collaboration with the
Netherlands Research School for Literary Studies).
During the coming period the group plans to focus its research efforts in three areas:
(1.) Cultural dialogue
(2.) Cultural memory
(3.) Literature, science and technology
These areas build on current expertise and research interests within the group and aim to provide a new
profi le for the Utrecht Literary Studies group. The fi rst two areas (Cultural Memory and Cultural Dialogue)
are imbedded in and supported by the Netherlands Research School for Literary Studies.
A 3. Processes in research, internal and external collaboration
Within the range of areas covered by the programme, researchers fi nd points of common interest. This results
in joint publications and the staging of congresses, such as the VIth Biennal IGEL conference (1998), Contemporary
Lusophone Women Writers (1999), Deleuze/Guattari; Recontre/Effraction/Contagion (2000),
Literary Studies in the Modern Languages: Problems and Ways Forward (2001), and The Value of Literature in
and after the Seventies: the Case of Italy and Portugal (2004). The broad range of topics is a good refl ection of
the variety of the programme.
A 4. Academic Reputation
In the period under review Van Buuren received the prestigious distinction ‘chevalier des palmes académiques’
from the President of France for promoting research collaboration between France and the Netherlands.
Various members held prestigious positions within the academic world. Prof. Wiljan van den Akker
was Chair of the NWO Humanities Department, and is a member of the European Science Foundation
standing committee of the Humanities, and is currently Director Humanities of the Royal Dutch Academy
of Sciences, and member of the Board of the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (USA).
Bertens is Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Hendrix (whose research time is allotted to the Arts, culture and their
contexts programme) is Director of the Netherlands Research School for Literary Studies, prof. Paulo de
Medeiros is on the board of several international organizations in Portuguese Studies. Prof. Ton Naaijkens is
Director of the Center for Literary Translations. Rigney is member of the Steering Committee for the
ESF-programme ‘Representations of the Past: National Histories in Europe’. She is also the winner of the
Jean-Pierre Barricelli Award 2001 (awarded by the American council on Romanticism) for her Imperfect Histories:
The Elusive Past and the Legacy of Romantic Historicism. Prof. Peter de Voogd is editor of The Shandean; or,
An Annual Volume Devoted to Laurence Sterne and His Works.
197 Literary Studies OGC
6