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Abstract

This article focuses on intranational and international literary relations in Belgium between 1850 and 1950. It presents the outlines of the research project „Sire, y a-t-il des Belges?‟ (KULeuven 2006-2010) which adopts both a sociological and discursive research angle. After a presentation of the corpus material (literary periodicals) and the database interface, two case studies (La Revue de Belgique and Lumière) are highlighted, before setting out the project‟s first conclusions. Both statistic data and discursive analyses show an evolution towards the recognition of intra-Belgian literary relations at the beginning of the 20th century, replacing the so-called „compromise‟ between Francophone and Flemish literature of the 19th century, i.c. the acception of a Belgian literature in French presenting Flemish cultural elements. On a more heuristic level, a plea is made in favour of a plurilingual and intercultural literary historiography for the specific Belgian „case‟.

Keywords: International literary relations,  Belgian literature,  quantitative analysis,  translation studies,  Internationale literaire relaties,  Belgische literatuur,  literaire tijdschriften,  vertaalwetenschap