Watersheds

The Danube serves as an artery of a culturally diverse geographic region, facilitating the flow of economic and cultural forms of international exchange. Adopting a multidisciplinary approach to the river and its cultural imaginaries, the anthology Watersheds explores the river as a site of transcultural engagement in the New Europe.

From the German Black Forest to the Romanian and Ukrainian shores where it flows into the Black Sea, Europe's second longest river connects ten countries, while its watershed covers four more. The Danube serves as an artery of a culturally diverse geographic region, frustrating attempts to divide Europe from non-Europe, and facilitating the flow of economic and cultural forms of international exchange. Yet the river has attracted surprisingly little scholarly attention, and what exists too often privileges single disciplinary or national perspectives. Adopting a multidisciplinary approach to the river and its cultural imaginaries, the anthology Watersheds: Poetics and Politics of the Danube River remedies this neglect and explores the river as a site of transcultural engagement in the New Europe.

“"If one considers the book as an entangled narrative fabric ..., it transforms into the forum set forth by the editors: to meet and to merge, to enter into a critical dialogue, and to combine many perspectives and disciplines into one book. As a whole, Watersheds goes beyond national perspectives and disciplines. It is more unifying than separating, more inclusive than exclusive. This book not only gives a more transnational direction to this interdisciplinary field of study, but it also opens new ways of looking at a range of authors and works that are not included. ... After the Soviet Union dissolved and the central European states were incorporated into the European Union, the tension between inclusion and exclusion perhaps seemed to be resolved for a brief moment; East and West seemed to be closer to each other. But after multiple terrorist attacks, the refugee crisis, the Brexit vote, and recent elections, the notion of Danubia possesses an even stronger resonance, which suggests a tolerance of difference in a time when it appears that many new borders are dividing Europe. This emerging atmosphere of exclusion makes Watersheds an important contribution to scholarship of the Danube; it is a valuable book for everyone who can image a world without borders to read." --Christiane Fischer, Rutgers University, German Studies Review Vol. 41 No. 3”

“If one considers the book as an entangled narrative fabric …, it transforms into the forum set forth by the editors: to meet and to merge, to enter into a critical dialogue, and to combine many perspectives and disciplines into one book. As a whole, Watersheds goes beyond national perspectives and disciplines. It is more unifying than separating, more inclusive than exclusive. This book not only gives a more transnational direction to this interdisciplinary field of study, but it also opens new ways of looking at a range of authors and works that are not included. … After the Soviet Union dissolved and the central European states were incorporated into the European Union, the tension between inclusion and exclusion perhaps seemed to be resolved for a brief moment; East and West seemed to be closer to each other. But after multiple terrorist attacks, the refugee crisis, the Brexit vote, and recent elections, the notion of Danubia possesses an even stronger resonance, which suggests a tolerance of difference in a time when it appears that many new borders are dividing Europe. This emerging atmosphere of exclusion makes Watersheds an important contribution to scholarship of the Danube; it is a valuable book for everyone who can image a world without borders to read.” —Christiane Fischer, Rutgers University, German Studies Review Vol. 41 No. 3

Marijeta Bozovic is Assistant Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at Yale University, a specialist in Russian and Balkan literature and culture of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and the author of Nabokov's Canon: From Onegin to Ada (forthcoming with Northwestern University Press, 2016). Her research interests include poetry, avant-gardes, diasporas and transnational culture, translation and adaptation across media.

From the German Black Forest to the Romanian and Ukrainian shores where it flows into the Black Sea, Europe's second longest river connects ten countries, while its watershed covers four more. The Danube serves as an artery of a culturally diverse geographic region, frustrating attempts to divide Europe from non-Europe, and facilitating the flow of economic and cultural forms of international exchange. Yet the river has attracted surprisingly little scholarly attention, and what exists too often privileges single disciplinary or national perspectives. Adopting a multidisciplinary approach to the river and its cultural imaginaries, the anthology Watersheds: Poetics and Politics of the Danube River remedies this neglect and explores the river as a site of transcultural engagement in the New Europe.

This item is eligible for simple returns within 30 days of delivery. Return shipping is the responsibility of the customer. See our returns policy for further details.