Bio
Odile Heynders is Professor of Comparative Literature at the Department of Culture Studies of Tilburg University. She was a fellow at the Netherlands Institute of Advanced Sciences (NIAS) in 1998/99 and 2004/05. She published numerous books and articles on European literature and authorship. Her book Writers as Public Intellectuals, Literature, Celebrity, Democracy (2016) appeared at Palgrave McMillan. Her current research (book) projects are on Experiences of Migration in Literature (book contract Cambridge Publishers) and on The Truths of Fiction in Digital Societies.
In my research I examine how literary strategies can be used in the analysis and understanding of current democratic public sphere(s).
My first interest is in how meta-modernism as a reflective genre of literature, offering a political scenario as well as specific literary mechanisms, is effective in digital public spheres and could help comprehending emerging phenomena such as fake news and the play with fabricated identities.
My second interest is in how author positions develop in digitalised public spheres and how new forms of activism and cultural authority are effective in interventions in political debates.
Bachelor Programme: Online Culture
Master track: Art & Media Studies
Honors Programme: The Societal Challenge of Migration