Extract

Demoor’s analysis of the cross-cultural construction of national identity revolves around the concepts of ‘othering’ and ‘otherness’. The confrontation and negotiation with cultural and religious otherness lead travel writers to recognise and understand their own identity. Detailing the creative effect of the British encounter with the Belgian ‘Other’ in the long nineteenth century, Demoor adds to the sustained critical interest in the impact of othering on the formation of national identity – a field of study first pioneered by authors such as Benedict Anderson, Linda Colley, Marjorie Morgan, George O. Ndege, and Michal Jan Rozbicki. Literary and artistic representations of ‘otherness’ captured various forms of stereotypical reaction or hypocrisy to foreign culture, thereby shaping a sense of national superiority and cultural supremacy in British identity. By reading into a catalogue of battlefield literature and travel writing, Demoor not only affirms the intersection of cultures and histories (histoire croisée) as an impressive source of artistic inspiration that contributes to the ‘birth of a person’s authorship’ (21). She also asserts the potential of these artistic entanglements in producing a ‘cultural imagined community’ (141) that accounts for British nationalistic and colonial impulses. […]