prof. dr. Odile Heynders

Bio

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. 

Expertise

My research focuses on modern public intellectuals as figures with a certain artistic prestige and writing career, who by self-fashioning try to convince an audience, and in doing so intentionally appear on various media platforms a specific style and voice. I have a special interest in the practitioners of literary fiction, who are uniquely equipped to guide readers through a 'post-truth' world. Readers and writers of fiction have a particular power to defend both the practice and the epistemic foundations of democracy.

Teaching

Bachelor Programme: Online Culture

Master track: Art & Media Studies

Honors Programme: The Societal Challenge of Migration

Courses

• Sublime: Art and Ecology
• The Truth of Fiction
• New Private and Public Spheres
• Transformations of the Public Sphere
• MA Thesis AMS

Collaboration

I collaborate with Kate Huber and a group of students in a seed money project on 'Reading Migration through an Environmental Justice Lens'.

With Julian Hanna, I work on a incentive grant project on 'Fiction as Investigation, Methodologies in Thinking about Climate Change'.

Recent publications

1. Guest Lecture 'Literature in Crisis' series: Dalarna University, Falu…

   Heynders, O. (2023). Guest Lecture 'Literature in Crisis' series: Dalarna University, Falun, Sweden. In Child migration in Literary Texts

2. Jaarrede 2023: Biografie als Dialoog: Hella S. Haasse als Publieke In…

   Heynders, O. (2023). Jaarrede 2023: Biografie als Dialoog: Hella S. Haasse als Publieke Intellectueel. In Jaarboek Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde 2022-2023

3. Resilience and Child Migration in Literary Fiction: Valeria Luiselli …

   Heynders, O. (Accepted/In press). Resilience and Child Migration in Literary Fiction: Valeria Luiselli and Samar Yazbek - Keynote Lecture. In Conference: Resilience in the Face of Adversity: A core Studies Approach Tilburg University.

4. The Critical Pedagogy of Fiction in Democratic Public Spheres

   Heynders, O. (2023). The Critical Pedagogy of Fiction in Democratic Public Spheres. In S. Mayer, & R. Scobie (Eds.), Authorship, Activism and Celebrity: Art and Action in Global Literature (pp. 111-124). Bloomsbury Academic.

5. Biography as Dialogue? The Case of Hella S. Haasse - Festschrift Lawr…

   Heynders, O. (2022). Biography as Dialogue? The Case of Hella S. Haasse: Festschrift Lawrence J. Friedman. Clio's Psyche.