2009 marks the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the "Iron Curtain". This conference will commemorate this event by focusing on its impact on European culture. The end of communism has tended to be discussed mainly in the context of political science and history. Maintaining an interdisciplinary approach, this conference is dedicated to assessing the consequences for Europe of the disappearance of the "Soviet bloc" in literary representation, in the reception of previously suppressed texts and in narratives about national, individual and European forms of "new" identities. The conference will also explore changes in the mental landscape of "Western" Europe and in the cultural ties with Eastern Europe. It will also focus on the significance of a particular event: the cutting of the barbed wire fence in the summer of 1989 on the Austro-Hungarian border.