Bibliography
Joep (Joseph Theodoor)
Leerssen s. xx–xxi
Works authored
Leerssen, Joep, A commodious vicus of recirculation: Irish anthologies and literary history, Working Papers European Studies Amsterdam, 10, Online: European Studies, University of Amsterdam, 2010–. URL: <http://dare.uva.nl/record/1/355016>.
Websites
Leerssen, Joep [ed.], Encyclopedia of romantic nationalism in Europe (ERNiE), Online: Study Platform on Interlocking Nationalisms, 2015–present. URL: <http://www.romanticnationalism.net>.
Works edited
Contributions to journals
Leerssen, Joep, “Cuchulain in the General Post Office: Gaelic revival, Irish rising [Sir John Rhys Memorial Lecture]”, Journal of the British Academy 4 (2016): 137–168.
abstract:
This article looks at the importance of the Gaelic language for the development of Irish nationalism in the decades leading up to, and following the Easter Rising of 1916. This importance was mainly symbolical: the Irish language was used mainly by revivalist activists, in a restricted number of functional registers, and largely as an enabling platform of other consciousness-raising activities. It is suggested, however, that such a symbolical instrumentalisation is by no means inconsequential and should be analysed as an important feature of cultural nationalism, not only in Irish history.
abstract:
This article looks at the importance of the Gaelic language for the development of Irish nationalism in the decades leading up to, and following the Easter Rising of 1916. This importance was mainly symbolical: the Irish language was used mainly by revivalist activists, in a restricted number of functional registers, and largely as an enabling platform of other consciousness-raising activities. It is suggested, however, that such a symbolical instrumentalisation is by no means inconsequential and should be analysed as an important feature of cultural nationalism, not only in Irish history.
Leerssen, Joep, “Gods, heroes, and mythologists: Romantic scholars and the pagan roots of Europe’s nations”, History of Humanities 1:1 (2016): 71–100.
abstract:
This article traces the scholarly interest in Europe’s non-Classical mythologies, from the rise of Edda studies in late eighteenth-century Denmark to the appropriation of Celtic origin myths in Spanish Galicia, and the flourish of overlapping Baltic mythologies between Tallinn and Vilnius, in the decades before 1900. Mythological studies attracted many important scholars (most notably Jacob Grimm, who published his benchmark Deutsche Mythologie in 1835), reached large readerships and inspired many artists, writers and composers. The progress and spread of this field of knowledge production is, however, extremely difficult to trace because it remained a cultural pursuit and never quite became a scholarly discipline. Its methods were heterogeneous and contradictory, combining the comparatist historicism of the New Philology with a tendency to leap from documentation to fanciful interpretation. The failure of the mythological pursuit to achieve academic consolidation stands in intriguing contrast to its popularity and its successful activation of a multinational repertoire of mythical figures and themes—sometimes reliably documented, often speculative, and always a welcome fuel for nationalist consciousness raising.
abstract:
This article traces the scholarly interest in Europe’s non-Classical mythologies, from the rise of Edda studies in late eighteenth-century Denmark to the appropriation of Celtic origin myths in Spanish Galicia, and the flourish of overlapping Baltic mythologies between Tallinn and Vilnius, in the decades before 1900. Mythological studies attracted many important scholars (most notably Jacob Grimm, who published his benchmark Deutsche Mythologie in 1835), reached large readerships and inspired many artists, writers and composers. The progress and spread of this field of knowledge production is, however, extremely difficult to trace because it remained a cultural pursuit and never quite became a scholarly discipline. Its methods were heterogeneous and contradictory, combining the comparatist historicism of the New Philology with a tendency to leap from documentation to fanciful interpretation. The failure of the mythological pursuit to achieve academic consolidation stands in intriguing contrast to its popularity and its successful activation of a multinational repertoire of mythical figures and themes—sometimes reliably documented, often speculative, and always a welcome fuel for nationalist consciousness raising.
Joep Leerssen, “The Pearl of the Kingdom... [Review of: Ailbhe Ó Corráin, The Pearl of the Kingdom: a study of ‘A fhir léghtha an leabhráin bhig’ by Giolla Brighde Ó hEódhasa (2013)]”, in: Kelten: Mededelingen van de Stichting A. G. van Hamel voor Keltische Studies 63 (2014): 12–13.
Contributions to edited collections or authored works
Leerssen, Joep, “Literacy, usage and national prestige: the changing fortunes of Gaelic in Ireland”, in: Willem Frijhoff, Marie-Christine Kok-Escalle, and Karène Sanchez-Summerer (eds), Multilingualism, nationhood, and cultural identity: northern Europe, 16th-19th centuries, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2016. 169–182.