 This poem originally appeared in EuropeNow, on 16 May 2023. Europe is a castle. Where the wide plains of Asia strangle, stand its chiselled outline, its inner moat, its ocean-backed dungeons. Europe is a castle.
An aggregate of shelters, propitious to resistance, where the hopes come to vanish of the empire and the tyrant. Europe is a castle. A monument of myriad memories, forged by tireless centuries, a motley mosaic of eras, styles, and dreams. Europe is a castle. A vertiginous testimony to human audacity, where the eyes of the world first met, like a sun born from its rays. Europe is a castle. And Ukraine is its rampart. Comments are closed.
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My name is Pierre Haroche and I am a specialist in European integration and European security.
In this blog I present my thoughts on EU democracy, defence and identity. If you are interested in my proposals, do not hesitate to get in touch! 
My book (in French) is a commented anthology of literary texts on the idea of Europe, since Antiquity.
Writers, before politicians and civil servants, have made Europe by invoking it. They made it through their vision, their sensitivity, their taste. Europe is an entity that cannot be reduced to the sum of its parts, but encompasses them. From ancient myths to contemporary issues, a journey through an uncertain continent in the company of Hesiod, Ovid, Victor Hugo, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Thomas Mann, Stefan Zweig, Henry James, Albert Cohen, Aurélien Bellanger, Orhan Pamuk, Laurent Gaudé and many others. |