European Encounters - Intellectual Exchange and the Rethinking of Europe 1914-1945

European Encounters explores the making and remaking of ideas of Europe between 1914 and 1945 as a result of intellectual encounters and intellectual exchange. Against the background of the first half of the twentieth century European intellectuals feverishly chased new and uncharted territories, most often across national borders. Their encounters with other intellectuals, or ideas, cultures, concepts and practices produced new understandings of Europe and triggered projects for Europe’s future. West-European writers turned to Russian literature, Catholic politicians from Northern Europe embraced corporatist and fascist solutions from Mediterranean Europe, scientists pointed at science and their network as sources of peace and reconciliation and others committed themselves to the European federalism of the Pan-Europa Movement. This volume unravels the encounters and exchanges that lie at the roots of this attempt at rethinking Europe.

Authors in this volume Carlos Reijnen and Marleen Rensen: European Encounters: Intellectual Exchange and the Rethinking of Europe (1914-1945) Part 1– Political and Ideological Encounters John Neubauer: Interbellum: A Europe of States and Statelessness Frits Boterman: German Intellectuals and the Crisis of Culture (1918-1940) Joris Gijsenbergh: Divided Fronts: The Anti-communist and Anti-fascist Defence of ‘Democracy’ and ‘Europe’ Robin De Bruin: Projector or Projection Screen? The Portuguese Estado Novo and ‘Renewal’ in the Netherlands (1933-1946) Part 2 – Science and Humanities Erwin Dekker: The Intellectual Networks of Otto Neurath: Between the Coffeehouse and Academia Geert Somsen: Universalism in Action: Ideals and Practices of International Scientific Cooperation Annemarie van Heerikhuizen: Paris 1933: A ‘Société des Esprits’ Chaired by Paul Valéry Part 3 – Literary Encounters Guido Snel: Krleža’s and Kosztolányi’s Encounters: A Diagnosis of ‘Typically Danubian Idiocy’? Marleen Rensen: Exemplary Europeans: Romain Rolland and Stefan Zweig Marjet Brolsma: Dostoevsky: A Russian Panacea for Europe Part 4 – International Movements Daniel Laqua: Exhibiting, Encountering and Studying Music in Interwar Europe: Between National and International Community George Harinck: ‘We may no longer restrict our horizon to one country’: Neo-Calvinism and Internationalism in the Interbellum Era Anne-Isabelle Richard: In Search of a Suitable Europe: Paneuropa in the Netherlands in the Interwar Period