The Island Nation and Euroscepticism: Revisiting Europe’s Heritage in Brexit Poetry
The idea of “Britain and Europe” that David Cameron emphasised in his speech on 23 January 2013 is a curious one – it evokes a shared history full of intricate twists, which spans over several centuries, and at the same time, preserves the apparent incompatibility of the island nation and the contin...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Casa Cărții de Știință
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Cultural Intertexts |
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| Online Access: | https://b00e8ea91c.clvaw-cdnwnd.com/4fb470e8cbb34a32a0dc1701f8d7322d/200000452-e6a8ee6a92/19-32%20Beck.pdf |
| _version_ | 1811178187325964288 |
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| author | Mandy BECK |
| author_facet | Mandy BECK |
| author_sort | Mandy BECK |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The idea of “Britain and Europe” that David Cameron emphasised in his speech on 23 January 2013 is a curious one – it evokes a shared history full of intricate twists, which spans over several centuries, and at the same time, preserves the apparent incompatibility of the island nation and the continent. Cameron even proposed an “in-out referendum” to determine the future of the British people, and its realisation in 2016 made Brexit an unexpected reality and signifies a crucial setback in the history of the European project. Brexit is furthermore an expression of “a perceived cultural distinction between Britain and Europe” (Spiering 2015) that seems to persist in British discourse specifically. The paper thus uses Menno Spiering’s concept of “British Euroscepticism” (2004), a unique form of Euroscepticism in terms of history, politics and culture, to discuss the cultural aspects of British differentness as entailing not only an opposition to Europe but also a potential to reflect on shared values and experiences. Based on this, the paper will trace the presentation of Europe in contemporary literature that emerged as a reaction to Brexit, especially poetry by Simon Armitage, Sean O’Brien and David Clarke, to ascertain the British perspective on the continent as either the paradigmatic Other or a constituent part for defining British identity. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T06:14:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-87357dc56bdb4ed4a528ab70cbb6ccdf |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2393-0624 2393-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T06:14:15Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Casa Cărții de Știință |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cultural Intertexts |
| spelling | doaj.art-87357dc56bdb4ed4a528ab70cbb6ccdf2022-12-22T04:41:06ZengCasa Cărții de ȘtiințăCultural Intertexts2393-06242393-10782022-12-011211932https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7431531The Island Nation and Euroscepticism: Revisiting Europe’s Heritage in Brexit Poetry Mandy BECK0 Faculty of Humanities, Technische Universität Chemnitz, GermanyThe idea of “Britain and Europe” that David Cameron emphasised in his speech on 23 January 2013 is a curious one – it evokes a shared history full of intricate twists, which spans over several centuries, and at the same time, preserves the apparent incompatibility of the island nation and the continent. Cameron even proposed an “in-out referendum” to determine the future of the British people, and its realisation in 2016 made Brexit an unexpected reality and signifies a crucial setback in the history of the European project. Brexit is furthermore an expression of “a perceived cultural distinction between Britain and Europe” (Spiering 2015) that seems to persist in British discourse specifically. The paper thus uses Menno Spiering’s concept of “British Euroscepticism” (2004), a unique form of Euroscepticism in terms of history, politics and culture, to discuss the cultural aspects of British differentness as entailing not only an opposition to Europe but also a potential to reflect on shared values and experiences. Based on this, the paper will trace the presentation of Europe in contemporary literature that emerged as a reaction to Brexit, especially poetry by Simon Armitage, Sean O’Brien and David Clarke, to ascertain the British perspective on the continent as either the paradigmatic Other or a constituent part for defining British identity. https://b00e8ea91c.clvaw-cdnwnd.com/4fb470e8cbb34a32a0dc1701f8d7322d/200000452-e6a8ee6a92/19-32%20Beck.pdfeuroscepticismbrexit literaturebrexlitcontemporary poetry |
| spellingShingle | Mandy BECK The Island Nation and Euroscepticism: Revisiting Europe’s Heritage in Brexit Poetry Cultural Intertexts euroscepticism brexit literature brexlit contemporary poetry |
| title | The Island Nation and Euroscepticism: Revisiting Europe’s Heritage in Brexit Poetry |
| title_full | The Island Nation and Euroscepticism: Revisiting Europe’s Heritage in Brexit Poetry |
| title_fullStr | The Island Nation and Euroscepticism: Revisiting Europe’s Heritage in Brexit Poetry |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Island Nation and Euroscepticism: Revisiting Europe’s Heritage in Brexit Poetry |
| title_short | The Island Nation and Euroscepticism: Revisiting Europe’s Heritage in Brexit Poetry |
| title_sort | island nation and euroscepticism revisiting europe s heritage in brexit poetry |
| topic | euroscepticism brexit literature brexlit contemporary poetry |
| url | https://b00e8ea91c.clvaw-cdnwnd.com/4fb470e8cbb34a32a0dc1701f8d7322d/200000452-e6a8ee6a92/19-32%20Beck.pdf |
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