The circulation of 'crime fiction' as a means to study the Europeanization of societies

This proposal is part of an ongoing research project on the circulation of 'crime fiction' as a means to study the Europeanization of societies through the production and circulation of cultural goods. For the time being, our research focuses on the statistical analysis of a database concerning the production of crime novels in seven Member States (Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Great Britain, Sweden and Poland) from the 1930s to the present day, and their circulation - measured approximately by their translations - throughout the European continent, as well as internationally. The database currently contains 35,000 titles (original works and translations). It is complemented by a prosopographical research currently being carried out on the economic profiles of publishers and the social and professional profiles of authors and translators. The paper we propose as part of a session on the Europeanisation of European societies will, first of all, examine the question of the forms in which these novels circulate in Europe, and whether the institutional construction of political Europe seems, directly or indirectly, to affect the forms and routes of this circulation: Can the transformation of these circuits be correlated with the construction of Europe by identifying transformations of translation circuits and circulation channel ; the Europeanisation or internationalisation of these circuits ; the temporal reduction in the overall time taken for translations to be published ; the impact or otherwise of enlargement, ; the possible effects of European policies to support translation, etc.? It will also examine, through the specific subject of the circulation of crime novels, different forms of Europeanisation, from the most 'material' to the most symbolic. This paper will therefore focus on the various forms of Europeanisation of societies, situated in specific contexts of European integration.