Robert Menasse, The Capital: a satirical novel on the European Union

Abstract

After a short introduction to MenasseŽs ideas about the European Union presented in different theoretical texts, the paper will concentrate on the novel The Capital, published in 2016. It will focus on the idea the reader will react with strangeness to the diminished narrative space taken in the text by topics like migrations, terrorism and islamofobia, which are generally accepted as the main issues affecting the EU today (Griffen 2019). Nonetheless, a more detailed analysis of three moments of the novel that critics tend to consider as subsidiary according to their place in the textual economy will show the importance of the aforementioned topics and their (possible) recognition as the new challenges that mark the EU.