The Literary Production of Nations without States

The idea of Europe needs to be rethought to welcome new political players, to account for cultural minorities that are trying to reaffirm themselves after centuries of domination. A strengthened Europe of the regions might ward off a dissolution of the European unity. In my talk I will present the literary production of two islands of the Mediterranean, Sardinia and Corsica. I will apply a postcolonial perspective to the works of the Sardinian author Sergio Atzeni and the Corsican writer Marie Ferranti. Did these insular territories experience internal colonialism and can a postcolonial condition be observed in their literary production? How internal colonialism relates to extra European colonialism such as that of the Caribbean? How does the insularity of Sardinia and Corsica compare to the insularity of Outre-Mere French dominions? Are postcolonial theories formulated by Bhabha and Spivak valid to describe some of the literary productions of these two Mediterranean islands? Or are internal colonialism as indicated by Birgit Wagner and the idea of liminal spaces between languages and borders presented by Claudio Magris better categories to define this insular production? My talk will try to give voice to a production that is often marginalized and considered peripheral, expression of minorities inside a nation state that do not make it to the national literary canon of the nations they belong to.