"In the eighteenth century, the Grand Tour took young aristocrats from northern Europe to the shores of the Mediterranean. There they wanted to perfect their education and their knowledge of the humanities. Our Grand Tour is more modest, roaming the European imagination and inviting its readers to travel by boarding a utopian Trans-Europe Express - trains are coming back into fashion, they say. It tells of destinies, cities and landscapes. He examines today's Europe. He often goes back in time - we are an old continent. He presents an unprecedented panorama of contemporary European literature, a self-portrait of Europe through its writers, who are among the best on the continent." Olivier Guez On the occasion of the French presidency of the Council of the European Union, Olivier Guez asked twenty-seven writers-one from each member state-to write about places evocative of European culture and history. In the previously unpublished narratives and short stories that make up this extraordinary collection, the memories, vistas, and climate of a flesh-and-blood Europe intersect. He creates a moving map of the European spirit in the early twenties of the 21st century. This discussion will start from the preface by Olivier Guez and the texts by Daniel Kehlmann and Jean Portante, and will expand to broader themes such as European literature and the place of culture in Europe today.