Critical Essays on World Literature, Comparative Literature and the “Other”

Critical Essays on World Literature, Comparative Literature and the “Other” PDF Author: Jüri Talvet
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527540138
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 211

Book Description
The book offers coherent theoretical treatment of the conceptions of “World Literature” and “Comparative Literature”, in parallel with their practical application to the research of different literary phenomena (Renaissance and Baroque creativity, literary canons, philosophy of translation, etc.), especially, as viewed from the point of view of the “other”—“peripheral” (minor, minority) national(-linguistic) cultures. Envisaging womankind’s historical liberation and a budding “comparative world sensibility” has been seen as one of the greatest merits of European “creative humanists”. To explain the deep sources of creativity and image authenticity, the notions of the (aesthetic) “infra-other” and (philosophical) “transgeniality” have been introduced. The proposed aim would be to transcend monologues of ideological-cultural “centres”, as well as formalistic and sociological trends in cultural and literary research and teaching. The book advocates a plurality of creative dialogues and a mutually enriching symbiotic relationship between “centres” and “peripheries”.

Critical Essays on World Literature, Comparative Literature and the  Oeotherâ

Critical Essays on World Literature, Comparative Literature and the  Oeotherâ PDF Author: Jüri Talvet
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 9781527538689
Category : Comparative literature
Languages : en
Pages : 210

Book Description
The book offers coherent theoretical treatment of the conceptions of â oeWorld Literatureâ and â oeComparative Literatureâ , in parallel with their practical application to the research of different literary phenomena (Renaissance and Baroque creativity, literary canons, philosophy of translation, etc.), especially, as viewed from the point of view of the â oeotherâ â "â oeperipheralâ (minor, minority) national(-linguistic) cultures. Envisaging womankindâ (TM)s historical liberation and a budding â oecomparative world sensibilityâ has been seen as one of the greatest merits of European â oecreative humanistsâ . To explain the deep sources of creativity and image authenticity, the notions of the (aesthetic) â oeinfra-otherâ and (philosophical) â oetransgenialityâ have been introduced. The proposed aim would be to transcend monologues of ideological-cultural â oecentresâ , as well as formalistic and sociological trends in cultural and literary research and teaching. The book advocates a plurality of creative dialogues and a mutually enriching symbiotic relationship between â oecentresâ and â oeperipheriesâ .

World Literature in Theory

World Literature in Theory PDF Author: David Damrosch
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118407695
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 550

Book Description
World Literature in Theory provides a definitive exploration of the pressing questions facing those studying world literature today. Coverage is split into four parts which examine the origins and seminal formulations of world literature, world literature in the age of globalization, contemporary debates on world literature, and localized versions of world literature Contains more than 30 important theoretical essays by the most influential scholars, including Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Hugo Meltzl, Edward Said, Franco Moretti, Jorge Luis Borges, and Gayatri Spivak Includes substantive introductions to each essay, as well as an annotated bibliography for further reading Allows students to understand, articulate, and debate the most important issues in this rapidly changing field of study

From Comparison to World Literature

From Comparison to World Literature PDF Author: Longxi Zhang
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438454724
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 204

Book Description
The study of world literature is on the rise. Until recently, the term "world literature" was a misnomer in comparative literature scholarship, which typically focused on Western literature in European languages. In an increasingly globalized era, this is beginning to change. In this collection of essays, Zhang Longxi discusses how we can transcend Eurocentrism or any other ethnocentrism and revisit the concept of world literature from a truly global perspective. Zhang considers literary works and critical insights from Chinese and other non-Western traditions, drawing on scholarship from a wide range of disciplines in the humanities, and integrating a variety of approaches and perspectives from both East and West. The rise of world literature emerges as an exciting new approach to literary studies as Zhang argues for the validity of cross-cultural understanding, particularly from the perspective of East-West comparative studies.

The Reemergence of World Literature

The Reemergence of World Literature PDF Author: Alfred Owen Aldridge
Publisher: University of Delaware Press
ISBN: 9780874132779
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 244

Book Description
Argues that the discipline of comparative literature should be expanded to include all of the world, not only a favored segment, and that translation represents a legitimate and indispensable tool for readers.

What Is World Literature?

What Is World Literature? PDF Author: David Damrosch
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691188645
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 341

Book Description
World literature was long defined in North America as an established canon of European masterpieces, but an emerging global perspective has challenged both this European focus and the very category of "the masterpiece." The first book to look broadly at the contemporary scope and purposes of world literature, What Is World Literature? probes the uses and abuses of world literature in a rapidly changing world. In case studies ranging from the Sumerians to the Aztecs and from medieval mysticism to postmodern metafiction, David Damrosch looks at the ways works change as they move from national to global contexts. Presenting world literature not as a canon of texts but as a mode of circulation and of reading, Damrosch argues that world literature is work that gains in translation. When it is effectively presented, a work of world literature moves into an elliptical space created between the source and receiving cultures, shaped by both but circumscribed by neither alone. Established classics and new discoveries alike participate in this mode of circulation, but they can be seriously mishandled in the process. From the rediscovered Epic of Gilgamesh in the nineteenth century to Rigoberta Menchú's writing today, foreign works have often been distorted by the immediate needs of their own editors and translators. Eloquently written, argued largely by example, and replete with insightful close readings, this book is both an essay in definition and a series of cautionary tales.

The Idea of World Literature

The Idea of World Literature PDF Author: John Pizer
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807131199
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 202

Book Description
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe introduced the concept of Weltliteratur in 1827 to describe the growing availability of texts from other nations. Although the term "World Literature" is widely used today, there is little agreement on what it means and even less awareness of its evolution. In this wide-ranging work, John Pizer traces the concept of Weltliteratur in Germany beginning with Goethe and continuing through Heinrich Heine, Karl Marx, and Friedrich Engels to the present as he explores its importation into the United States in the 1830s and the teaching of World Literature in U.S. classrooms since the early twentieth century. Pizer demonstrates the concept's ongoing viability through an in-depth reading of the contemporary Syrian-German transnational novelist Rafik Schami. He also provides a clear methodology for World Literature courses in the twenty-first century. Pizer argues persuasively that Weltliteratur can provide cohesion to the study of World Literature today. In his view, traditional "World Lit" classes are limited by their focus on the universal elements of literature. A course based on Weltliteratur, however, promotes a more thorough understanding of literature as a dialectic between the universal and the particular. In a practical guide to teaching World Literature by employing Goethe's paradigm, he explains how to help students navigate between the extremes of homogenization on the one hand and exoticism on the other, learning both what cultures share and what distinguishes them. Everyone who teaches World Literature will want to read this stimulating book. In addition, anyone interested in the development of the concept from its German roots to its American fruition will find The Idea of World Literature immensely rewarding.

Against World Literature

Against World Literature PDF Author: Emily Apter
Publisher: Verso Books
ISBN: 1844679705
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 385

Book Description
Against World Literature: On the Politics of Untranslatability argues for a rethinking of comparative literature focusing on the problems that emerge when large-scale paradigms of literary studies ignore the politics of the “Untranslatable”—the realm of those words that are continually retranslated, mistranslated, transferred from language to language, or especially resistant to substitution. In the place of “World Literature”—a dominant paradigm in the humanities, one grounded in market-driven notions of readability and universal appeal—Apter proposes a plurality of “world literatures” oriented around philosophical concepts and geopolitical pressure points. The history and theory of the language that constructs World Literature is critically examined with a special focus on Weltliteratur, literary world systems, narrative ecosystems, language borders and checkpoints, theologies of translation, and planetary devolution in a book set to revolutionize the discipline of comparative literature.

Critical Essays on Homer

Critical Essays on Homer PDF Author: Kenneth John Atchity
Publisher: Macmillan Reference USA
ISBN:
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 264

Book Description
Critical essays about Homer, the "Iliad", and the "Odyssey".

Premises and Problems

Premises and Problems PDF Author: Luiza Franco Moreira
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438482485
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 324

Book Description
World literature, many have stressed, is a systematic category. Both literary scholars and social scientists have argued that the prestige of the major literary languages is key to establishing the shape of the overall system. In order to critically interrogate world literature and cinema, Premises and Problems approaches this system from the perspective of languages and film traditions that do not hold a hegemonic position. This perspective raises new questions about the nature of literary hegemony and the structure of world literature: How is hegemony established? What are the costs of losing it? What does hegemony mask? How is it masked? The contributors focus predominantly on literatures outside the small circle of prestigious modern European languages and on films and film criticism produced outside the best-known centers. The inclusion of this unfamiliar material calls attention to some areas of obscurity that make key features of the system indistinct, or that make it difficult to trace relationships between texts that hold different levels of prestige, such as those of the Global North and the Global South. The book argues that the study of world literature and cinema will profit from a sustained and informed engagement with the body of work produced by historical social scientists committed to the perspective of the world-system.