The return to 19th century themes and ideas after the fall of socialist regimes in the late 20th century highlights the enduring influence of this period on the region’s cultural imagination. This “long 19th century” has shaped the intellectual and artistic traditions of Central and Eastern Europe in profound ways, creating a common cultural thread that persists despite political boundaries. While comparative studies of 19th century Western European literatures are well established, a similar comprehensive approach to Central and Eastern European literatures is lacking. This gap in scholarship presents an opportunity for a nuanced exploration of the region’s literary heritage. A comparative perspective on the long 19th century in Central and Eastern Europe would not only illuminate the unique characteristics of each national literature but also reveal the interconnections and shared themes that define the region’s cultural identities. The field of inquiry opened by this thematic issue is intentionally broad, reflecting the many ways in which the 19th century continues to shape, unsettle, and inspire literary imagination in Central and Eastern Europe. The contributions assembled here suggest that the 19th century is not a stable object of study but a living constellation of forms, affects, and interpretive frameworks. It may be approached through the continuities and ruptures that link 19th- and 21st-century literatures; through the rewriting of realist and romantic paradigms in contemporary fiction, drama, and poetry; or through the persistence of 19th-century myths in modern biographies, media, and cultural narratives. It may also be revisited through the lenses of today’s critical vocabularies – ecocriticism, affect theory, postcolonial and gender studies, or digital and quantitative methodologies – which question how literary history is written, measured, and transmitted. At stake are not only the aesthetic legacies of the century that defined modern Europe, but also its epistemological and ethical afterlives: how its canons are rebuilt or contested, how its authors are reinterpreted as critics, theorists, or cultural icons, and how its texts circulate anew across borders, languages, and media. This plurality of approaches – comparative, archival, theoretical, or experimental – confirms that the 19th century endures less as a closed period than as a dynamic, evolving dialogue between past and present.

Revisiter les canons nationaux / Revisiting National Canons

Réalismes (semi)périphériques / (Semi)peripheral Realisms

Espaces privés, enjeux publics / Private Spaces, Public Matters

Documents

Comptes rendus / Book Reviews

Contributeurs / Contributors / 340