ACLA 2023 - Mediterranean Comparisons: Literature Beyond Borders
The Mediterranean has often been considered a transitional space—a rite of passage, an interval between borders, a route to conquest. But what of the Mediterranean as a context and a framework in itself? How might notions of ‘man,’ ‘nation,’ ‘empire,’ ‘center,’ and ‘periphery’ be reformulated when looked at from the perspective of the sea? What does comparative literature look like when the Mediterranean is viewed not only as a sea in which cultures exist and literatures are produced but also as a context or a framework in which they can be reassessed?