Indian Imaginaries in World Literature and Domestic Popular Culture

Abstract Following Eric Hayot’s argument that modernity is a theory of the world as the “universal,” this paper traces the “world concept” in Marvel Comics industry (MC) and its synergy with the film industry of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Speaking from the field of World Literature Studies, I show how superhero comics activate the “world concept” through the global dissemination of the infinitely stretchable Marvel Universe. My argument is that by operating in terms of a universe with moldable diegetic rules, the popular culture of MC and MCU does not merely reflect the current state of the world concept, but also affects its evolution and its spread. The universality of the modern worldview has come to be less concerned with the realist effect and more with increasing all-inclusiveness and infinite stretchability. The increased plasticity of the world concept puts a great pressure on world literary ecologies and increasingly expands and shapes what Beecroft called global literary ecology. What Marvel Comics has done in recent decades, especially through the interplay with the film industry, is to show how the expansion of the world concept entails that however large we imagine the world to be, it is always already too small.

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Ask the Lyrics: John Fante in Music

John Fante's Ask the Dust ◽

10.5422/fordham/9780823287864.003.0007 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 127-144

Author(s):

Chiara Mazzucchelli

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Popular Culture ◽

Popular Music ◽

World Literature ◽

The United States ◽

American Writer ◽

Italian American ◽

John Fante ◽

The Impact ◽

The Relationship

The crosspollination of literature and lyrics is not a new phenomenon in popular music, and classics of world literature continue to inspire songwriters who incorporate them in their art in different ways and forms. Although perhaps not yet quite recognized as a classic author, the Italian-American novelist John Fante has had an impact on popular culture and music both in Italy and in the United States. Reviewing a range of Italian and American songs that draw inspiration from Arturo Bandini, the protagonist of Fante’s saga, this essay explores the relationship among literature, music, and society through a reflection on the impact that a non-canonical American writer has on popular culture and how his ethnic experience reverberates in the singer/reader/listener’s life before earning approval from mainstream critics.

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SCANDINAVIAN CRIME FICTION AND POPULAR CULTURE: JO NESBØ'S HARRY HOLE NOVELS

РАДОВИ ФИЛОЗОФСКОГ ФАКУЛТЕТА - ФИЛОЛОШКЕ НАУКЕ ◽

10.7251/fin1921047k ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 (21) ◽

Author(s):

Darko М. Kovačević

Keyword(s):

Popular Culture ◽

21St Century ◽

World Literature ◽

Crime Fiction ◽

Literary Genre ◽

Main Character ◽

Strong Connection ◽

Typical Representative ◽

The World ◽

Full Power

Jo Nesbø is one of the most important and popular crimefiction writers of today, as well as a typical representative of thecontemporary literary genre known as Scandinavian crime fiction.Within the entire literary opus of this writer, the central positionis reserved for the series of novels in which detective Harry Hole isthe main character. Various segments and aspects of these novelsdemonstrate a strong connection and relation with popularculture, and they are identified and discussed in this article.However, before the mentioned identification and discussion,some facts are stated regarding the phenomena of Scandinaviancrime fiction, as a regionally determined literary genre whichemerged to the world literature scene in full power at the end ofthe 20th and the first decades of the 21st century, and its relation topopular culture.

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