Book discussion: L’Europe. Encyclopédie historique
L’Europe. Encyclopédie historique, published in October 2018 by Actes Sud, is a vast scientific undertaking that fuses historical themes and eras in order to offer “a multifaceted and dynamic portrait of European civilisation”. Published under the direction of Christophe Charle, Professor of Comparative History of European Societies at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and Daniel Roche, Honorary Professor at the Collège de France, this book is the result of long-term work by a diversified team. It includes 620 articles by 438 authors examining "what, in all the cultures present in Europe from the end of Antiquity to the present day, has left a lasting mark on the continent's history outside the local, regional or national cradle of its emergence".
From key cities to everyday objects, scientific trends and literary works of reference, the Historical Encyclopedia aims to bring together all aspects of Europe as a changing historical and geographical space.
How relevant is the encyclopaedic form today to tell the history of European culture? How can we account for the common history of this space, at times divided, fractured, and at times unified, recomposed? In the context of crisis of the European consciousness, can historical work of this scale and ambition help to renew the terms of the debate on the present and future of the continent? To what extent can this book be a tool against the instrumentalisation of history for political purposes that go in the direction of withdrawal and exclusion much more than solidarity and rapprochement?
These are some of the questions that the editors of the book Christophe Charle and Blaise Wilfert, lecturer in contemporary history at the École normale supérieure, will discuss with the team of the House of European History on Monday 16 December from 6pm. The discussion will be introduced by Franck Debié, Director for the Library and Knowledge Services of the European Parliament.
The discussion will be held in French with interpretation in English.
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