The prospect of conducting the research on The Black Sea as a Literary/Cultural Space was outlined at the Ilia State
University in October 2017, at the roundtable of the conference funded by the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation
of Georgia, 21 Challenges of the 21st Century, Humanities and Social Sciences. The idea was suggested by Prof. Alexis
Nuselovici, to conference participants, professors from the Ilia State University and international universities. They agreed
on initiating the long-term research of the Black Sea area’s literary and cultural identity, and preparing a project for the
competition for obtaining funding from the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020.
At the first phase of the research, and international research conference is being organized in Tbilisi, Ilia State University,
25-27 October. 57 professors, researchers and doctoral students from the Black Sea countries (Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria,
Romania, Ukraine, Russia), as well as European, American and Canadian universities will participate in the conference.
The purpose of comparative literature is to emancipate itself from national divisions, but it has only taken it after a long
period. In a first phase, comparatists used to compare national literary traditions divided solely by languages. It is only in a
second phase, recently, that comparative literature has freed itself from the limitations and started to focus more on
circulation and transfer of forms and ideas. A transnational perspective, based on new methodology, can go even further by
adopting a post-transnational goals,.
Among the conceptual instruments of this renewal, the concept of "literary space" is emerging. It’s inspired by the
Deleuzian thought of deterritorialization and by various works in literary theory (see: Emily Apter, The Translation Zone,
Princeton University Press, 2006 et Bernard Westphal, La géocritique. Réel, fiction, espace, Paris, Minuit, 2007). The literary
space, seen at the crossroads of geography and history, hosts several literatures and several languages, defined at the
regional or national level, which is brought closer by the themes treated, the discourses conveyed or the forms used. The
Caribbean, the Mediterranean or the Balkans give such examples, while the first two have already benefited from this kind
of integrated vision.
The Black Sea area, and its six countries (Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia), its important port cities and
coastal settlements, its cultural diversity and history is dating back to antiquity, offers a perfect possibility to be studied
from this perspective.