This lecture looked on the concept of imagination and identity in modern literature. Dr. Grave first briefly focused on two Greek characters: on Procrustes, a robber in a Greek legend, and on Hercules, in the Classical Mythology a hero of superhuman strength. After that he examined two important motives that are connected to those characters, to utopian dreams and to imagination in modern 20th century literature: the sublime and epiphanies.

Dr. Jaap Grave (1964) studied Germanic language and literature at the University of Groningen and the University of Münster and obtained his PhD in Germanic Languages ​​(Dutch and German) at the University of Ghent, on the thesis Zulk vertalen is een werk van liefde (1999) . He is currently a lecturer in Dutch Studies at the State University of St. Petersburg and affiliated with the University of Münster and the VU University Amsterdam. He also taught at various universities in cities around the world, and published books and scientific articles.