Grands courants dchanges intellectuels : Georg Brandes et la France, lAllemagne, lAngleterre- Main currents of Intellectual Exchanges: Georg Brandes and France, Germany, Great Britain

Le Danois Georg Brandes (1842-1927), considr comme lun des pres de la littrature compare, exera, en tant que critique littraire, une influence dterminante sur son poque. Il fut galement un intellectuel engag, dfendant la libert individuelle et le droit des peuples disposer deux-mmes, ainsi que la cause de la paix pendant la Premire guerre mondiale. Les pays quil connaissait le mieux, et o il avait les plus nombreux contacts, taient la France, lAllemagne et lAngleterre. Les relations que Brandes entretenait avec ces pays ont t au centre de la Deuxime Confrence Internationale Georg Brandes (Nancy, 2008), dont les contributions sont rassembles dans ce volume. La provenance des auteurs (France, Danemark, Italie, Allemagne, Sude, Grande Bretagne, Etats-Unis, Tchquie) tmoigne de la dimension internationale de lentreprise. La prsence, aux cts des meilleurs spcialistes de Brandes, de reprsentants de disciplines autres que les tudes scandinaves (littrature franaise, allemande, anglaise, philosophie, histoire, etc.) reflte la diversit et la richesse de luvre brandsienne. The Danish writer Georg Brandes (1842-1927) is regarded as one of the founders of comparative literature. As a literary critic, he was highly influential in his time. He was also a politically engaged intellectual, advocating individual freedom and peoples right to self-government; he also refused to take sides during the First World War and opposed warfare. The countries he knew best and where he had most friends and correspondents were France, Germany and Britain. Brandes relationship to those countries was the subject of the Second International Georg Brandes Conference held in Nancy (France) in November 2008. The papers that were delivered there are collected in this book. The authors are from various countries (France, Denmark, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Great Britain, USA, Czech Republic), stressing the international dimension of their research. The presence of the best Brandes specialists as well as of scholars from various fields other than Scandinavian studies (French, German, English literature, philosophy, history, etc.) shows the diversity and richness in Brandes work.