Just as national identities are nationalist constructs, observe Hulle (English literature, U. of Antwerp, Belgium) and Leerssen (modern European history, U. of Amsterdam, the Netherlands),
national literatures are philological constructs. In this volume, they present 16 papers exploring the emergence of national schools of philology and their constructions of national literature
in Europe at the time of the emergence of the European nation-state. Papers examine the emergence of Slavic, Baltic, Scandinavian, Welsh, Irish, Catalan, Portuguese, and French canon
literature, as well as European "cross-currents," such as the contest to "own" Beowulf within philology and the role of the book trade in forming national canons. Annotation 穢2009 Book News,
Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
