De grenzen van Europa – een Europa zonder grenzen. Ruimteconstructies in het Nederlandstalige verlichtingstijdschrift

Abstract

Before 1750 Dutch review periodicals moved within a European space - the international republic of letters - that had almost no borders. Here they reported on learned news that in the first place was considered as European and that was intended for a scholarly audience. In the second half of the 18th century, the national community in its international context was increasingly emphasized. The European cultural space was now divided into smaller entities (French, English, German etc.) and magazines changed from the use of Latin or French to the vernacular. They no longer wrote exclusively for a learned audience, but tried to reach a socially more stratified reading public. Periodicals not only mirrored the European cultural space, they actively constructed it by reviewing foreign publications and by judging them on their merit for the national context. France, Great Britain and Germany were in general considered as the heartland of Europe, which was seen not only as a geographical, but also as a cultural entity rooted in Christianity. It was thus dissociated from Turkey and Islam, which were considered as uncivilized. In the periodicals there was no genuine interest in the „Other‟, who merely functioned as a counter-image for the European identity.