Ideas of Europe

Ideas of Europe is a critical essay reassessing the founding myths of Europe and the making of a European identity from antiquity to the present age. Antonelli argues that the intrinsic fragility and precarious nature of the perceived geographical entity of Europe has been compensated by the creation of a strong and wide European cultural identity, which has embraced Latin tradition as interpreted and appropriated by Germanic, Romance, Slavonic, as well as Greek and Byzantine cultures to form the European cultural space as we know it today. The development of a creative relationship between antiquity and modernity, and the birth of a European Literature have created a ‘time’ of and for Europe. The method used throughout the book is rigorously historical-philological on the one hand, while on the other it is enriched through critical dialogue with the great authors of the European tradition – from the classical Greek-Latin figures to the literati and philosophers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This critical history of the cultural representations of Europe is a vital text for readers from across the humanities and social sciences who are interested in cultural history and in the values of Europe.

Roberto Antonelli is the current President of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. Emeritus Professor of Romance Philology at Rome “La Sapienza”, he has been Membre étranger de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres since 2016. He was President of the Société de Linguistique Romane (2016–2019), President of the Ateneo federato delle Scienze umane, delle Arti e dell’Ambiente at Rome “La Sapienza” (2008–2010) and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities (2004–2008) at Rome “La Sapienza”. He has published widely on all fields of Romance Studies, from the Middle Ages to the present day. He has promoted major EU research projects on the European Literary Canon and the Lexicon of Emotions in European Literature.