TRANSATLANTIC APPROACHES TO CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE IN THE ERA OF TRUMP

Project Information

TRAMP

Grant agreement ID: 894396

DOI

10.3030/894396

Project terminated on 28 February 2023

EC signature date 28 February 2020

Start date 1 October 2020

End date 30 September 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 257 561,28

EU contribution

€ 257 561,28

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, DUBLIN
Ireland

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - TRAMP (TRANSATLANTIC APPROACHES TO CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE IN THE ERA OF TRUMP)

Reporting period: 2022-10-01 to 2023-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Project TRAMP was focused on the analysis of 21st-century American and Western European literary fiction as a way of shedding light on the current crisis of transatlanticism and the rise of far-right and right-wing populisms across the Western world. The main premise of the project was that literature is especially suited to capture the disturbances and nuances of a time of paradigm shift, when old certainties are being challenged or reconsidered, a time when “the old is dying and the new cannot be born,” to use Nancy Fraser’s recent rephrasing (2019) of the old Gramscian adage. Project TRAMP's main objective was to contribute to the understanding of how these shifts can and will continue to transform society by focusing attention on literary production and offering readings that can have an impact not only on the aesthetic and critical field, but also on the analysis of present and future challenges, as has been identified by the EU's H2020 strategy "Europe in a changing world - inclusive, innovative and reflective societies." Its research questions were geared towards discussions of how literature can be a site of reflection for and offer perspective on complex and crucial societal challenges, such as the rise of intolerance, xenophobia, and a politics of grievance, as well as to offer measured approaches to sensitive issues such as nationalisms and cultural identity. Through literary analysis and by producing critically-informed readings of the contemporary fictions being produced in both North America and Western Europe, project TRAMP sought to shed some light into the affective investments that are driving these social and political changes and to identify what, if any, are the avenues for an effective engagement with societal needs and crises.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Project TRAMP was divided into two phases: an outgoing period in the United States (Dartmouth College, Oct. 2020-Sept. 2022) and an incoming phase in the Republic of Ireland (University College Dublin, Oct. 2022-Feb. 2023).

The main findings of the project were disseminated through publications and presentations at international conferences and events, they were advertised via social media, institutional sites and the project’s website, and a book monograph is expected in the future. The following is a non-exhaustive list of the main outcomes:

Publications:
• Edited Book: American Literature in the Era of Trumpism: Alternative Realities. Ed. Dolores Resano. Palgrave Macmillan (2022). ISBN: 9783030738570 (hardcover) 9783030738587 (ebook). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73858-7
• Chapter in Book (Gold Open Access): “Introduction: On the Meanings of ‘American Reality’.” American Literature in the Era of Trumpism: Alternative Realities. Ed. Dolores Resano. Palgrave-Macmillan (2022). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73858-7_1
• Chapter in Book: “From Political Depression to ‘Satiractivism’: Late-night in the Tribal Era of Trump.” American Television during a Television Presidency. Ed. Karen McNally. Wayne State University Press, 2021, ISBN 9780814349359. Pre-print made publicly available in repository: DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7381101.
• Journal Special Issue (Green Open Access): “Crisis, Pandemics, and Counterhegemony: Reading Paradigm Shifts across World Literature.” Ed. Dolores Resano. 452ºF Revista de teoría de la literatura y literatura comparada, 25 (2021) ISSN: 2013-3294.
• Article in Journal (Green Open Access): “Editorial: Writing in the Pause / Escribir en el tiempo de la pausa / Escriure en el temps de la pausa.” 452ºF Revista de teoría de la literatura y literatura comparada, 25 (2021): 3-32. ISSN: 2013-3294. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1344/452f.2021.25.1
• Article in Journal (Gold Open Access): “Competing Fantasies and Alternative Realities: Salman Rushdie’s The Golden House.” Journal of American Studies, December 13 (2021): pp. 1-25. ISSN: 0021-8758 (Print), 1469-5154 (Online) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021875821001237
• Review in Journal (Green Open Access): “Review of The Comeback of Populism. Transatlantic Perspectives.” Comparative American Studies. An International Journal (2021) ISSN: 1477-5700 / 1741-2676. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14775700.2021.1928431

Invited Talks:
• Oct. 28, 2022: Webinar, “The Politics of Literature in an Era of Trumpism” at America Divided: Cultural and Political Perspectives on the Midterm Elections, NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal.
• Nov. 18, 2021 Talk, “The Place of Theory in your Work,” MA in Comparative Literature, Prof. Veronika Fuechtner, Dartmouth College, United States.
• Aug. 17, 2021 Workshop, “MSCA AHSS Grant Writing Workshop.” Online series for applicants to the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship award. Organized by UCD Research & Innovation, University College Dublin, Ireland.
• Oct. 20, 2020 Workshop, “Applicant, Project, Environment.” Online series for applicants to the Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship. Organized by UCD Research & Innovation, University College Dublin, Ireland.
• Oct.2 2020 Roundtable, “U.S. Election Roundtable,” with Kimberly Reyes, Dr. Jorie Lagerwey, Dr. Eugenio Lilli, Dr. Daniel Geary and Dr. Dolores Resano. Organized by the Irish Association for American Studies, Ireland.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Preliminary research findings of project TRAMP are already suggesting some relevant differences in the concerns addressed by the relevant fictions studied so far. While it can be said that, overall, most of the works analyzed are addressing the ongoing processes of precarization and their emotional fallout, it is perhaps British fiction the one that is more straightforwardly tackling the political implications of said processes, as the term “Brexlit” already suggests. As some critics have noted, it is perhaps the already-existing long tradition of Euroscepticism and Eurosceptic literature in the United Kingdom that can help explain the rapid emergence of a considerable corpus of Brexit Literature (in which Scottish writer Ali Smith is hailed as one of its frontrunners). In this sense, Brexlit would emerge as a transformation or an updating of the concerns that were already being sensed and addressed in the fictions that engaged with the currents of Euroscepticism and public unrest. The amount of research conducted has partially been translated into outcomes as publications, but more is expected in the future as the work is ongoing. It is expected that findings of project TRAMP will have a strong impact in the field of literary studies, in particular within contemporary, transnational, and comparative literature, transatlanticism, and the booming field of Precarity Studies, where it will offer updated theoretical perspectives and a fresh interdisciplinary approach for the analysis of fictions that seat at the intersection of negative affect, neoliberalism and the populist resurgence.

fdxfubbxwaknvhd.jpg