The Possibility of a 'Dead Europe': Tsiolkas, Houellebecq and European Mythologies
- Publisher:
- UTS
- Publication Type:
- Journal Article
- Citation:
- Portal, 2007, 4 (2), pp. 1 - 17
- Issue Date:
- 2007-01
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This article posits that two constituent mythologies sustain and drive the EU integration process. The first is the tension between the twin narratives of perpetual peace and perpetual suffering. The second fundamental mythology of the EU project is the tension between the narratives of Europe as on the one hand authentic and as cosmopolitan on the other. Both of these constituent mythologies are essential in forming what is emerging as a pan-European, Europtimist raison detre. This article posits that two recent novels, the Australian Christos Tsiolkass Dead Europe (2005) and the French Michel Houellebecqs The Possibility of an Island (2006) subvert these two mythologies and in the process undermine the legitimacy of recent works of Europtomist scholarship.
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