In search of the authentic nation: landscape and national identity in Canada and Switzerland

While the study of nationalism and national identity has flourished in the last decade, little attention has been devoted to the conditions under which natural environments acquire significance in definitions of nationhood. This article examines the identity-forming role of landscape depictions in two polyethnic nation-states: Canada and Switzerland. Two types of geographical national identity are identified. The first – what we call the ‘nationalisation of nature’– portrays zarticular landscapes as expressions of national authenticity. The second pattern – what we refer to as the ‘naturalisation of the nation’– rests upon a notion of geographical determinism that depicts specific landscapes as forces capable of determining national identity. The authors offer two reasons why the second pattern came to prevail in the cases under consideration: (1) the affinity between wild landscape and the Romantic ideal of pure, rugged nature, and (2) a divergence between the nationalist ideal of ethnic homogeneity and the polyethnic composition of the two societies under consideration

The Transnational Aspect in Harold Nicolson’s The Development of English Biography

International audienceHarold Nicolson is generally remembered as a diplomat, which explains why his literary career has been overlooked. Yet, he belonged to an influential group of modernist biographers who practised “the New Biography”, as coined by Virginia Woolf. Nicolson’s history of the genre provides insight into the way his experience of French culture permeates his perception of the evolution of English biography. Although it may not have been his primary goal, his book offers an early attempt at a cross-cultural analysis in his study of the intertwining of French and English cultural aspects in the praxis of English biography. This chapter discusses the transnational features in Nicolson’s historiography and focuses on the way Nicolson links these elements to his core concepts of “pure” and “impure” biography

Diaries and Letters

511 p. ; 25 cm

L'Angleterre d'aujourd'hui

Nicolson Harold. L'Angleterre d'aujourd'hui. In: Politique étrangère, n°2 - 1994 - 59ᵉannée. pp. 545-552

Some people

VII, 223 p. 16 c

L'Angleterre et la France devant le problème danubien

Nicolson Harold. L'Angleterre et la France devant le problème danubien. In: Politique étrangère, n°4 - 1938 - 3ᵉannée. pp. 324-333

L'Angleterre d'aujourd'hui

Nicolson Harold. L'Angleterre d'aujourd'hui. In: Politique étrangère, n°2 - 1948 - 13ᵉannée. pp. 119-128

Good behavior being a study of certain types of civilaty

ix, 293 p.; 22 cm

The evolution of diplomatic method

The evolution of diplomatic metho