Boatmen, Wastrels, and Demons: Figures of Literature

CounterText ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simona Sawhney
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
World Literature ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Sanskrit Text ◽  
Modern Democracy ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
The World ◽  
National Literatures

Engaging some of the questions opened by Ranjan Ghosh's and J. Hillis Miller's book Thinking Literature Across Continents (2016), this essay begins by returning to Aijaz Ahmad's earlier invocation of World Literature as a project that, like the proletariat itself, must stand in an antithetical relation to the capitalism that produced it. It asks: is there an essential link between a certain idea of literature and a figure of the world? If we try to broach this link through Derrida's enigmatic and repeated reflections on the secret – a secret ‘shared’ by both literature and democracy – how would we grasp Derrida's insistence on the ‘Latinity’ of literature? The groundlessness of reading that we confront most vividly in our encounter with fictional texts is both intensified, and in a way, clarified, by new readings and questions posed by the emergence of new reading publics. The essay contends that rather than being taught as representatives of national literatures, literary texts in ‘World Literature’ courses should be read as sites where serious historical and political debates are staged – debates which, while being local, are the bearers of universal significance. Such readings can only take place if World Literature strengthens its connections with the disciplines Miller calls, in the book, Social Studies. Paying particular attention to the Hindi writer Premchand's last story ‘Kafan’, and a brief section from the Sanskrit text the Natyashastra, it argues that struggles over representation, over the staging of minoritised figures, are integral to fiction and precede the thinking of modern democracy.

scholarly journals Title Museality as a Trend in the World Literature of the Last Fifty Years

2021 ◽  
pp. 49-60
Author(s):  
L. S. Mitina
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
World Literature ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Practical Significance ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Literary Works ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
The World ◽  
Literary Trend ◽  
National Literatures

The aim of this study is to define the concept of the title museality, the selection and analysis of relevant works of the world literature both separately and as a unified group of narratives, and determining the existence of a separate literary trend. Research methodology. The author uses analysis, synthesis, abstraction, concretization and generalization of scientific sources and literary texts with features of title museality. Results. The main characteristic evidence of the concept of “title museality” is determined and a group of literary narratives is identified. These features correspond to: “The Heritage” by Siegfried Lenz (Germany), “Outside the Dog Museum” by Jonathan Carroll (USA), “The Night at the Museum” by Milan Trenc (Croatia), “Behind the Scenes at the Museum” by Kate Atkinson (Great Britain), “The Museum of Innocence” by Orhan Pamuk (Turkey), “The Museum of Abandoned Secrets” by Oksana Zabuzhko (Ukraine) and “Museum of Thieves” by Lian Tanner (Australia). We considered and analyzed the museological features of each of these texts of the novel form, belonging to the seven national literatures of the world. The general and distinctive features of the considered works are revealed and their museological properties are established as a unified group of narratives. It is argued that the title museality is a trend in world literature of the last fifty years and this trend is steadily growing. Novelty. An attempt is made to formulate a new museal­literary concept, to highlight and analyze the relevant literary works as a unified group of narratives and identify a certain trend in world literature. The practical significance. The key results of this study can be used for further research of other literary works with signs of the title museum that is reviewed, and also other national literatures of the world. They also can be used in studying of museological aspects of the literary studies or literary aspects of the museology.

Comparing Comparisons: Political Implications of Different Notions of Difference

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-26
Author(s):  
Glenn Odom
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Studies ◽  
World Literature ◽  
The West ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
The World ◽  
Critical Attention ◽  
David Damrosch ◽  
Location Point

With the rise of the American world literature movement, questions surrounding the politics of comparative practice have become an object of critical attention. Taking China, Japan and the West as examples, the substantially different ideas of what comparison ought to do – as exhibited in comparative literary and cultural studies in each location – point to three distinct notions of the possible interactions between a given nation and the rest of the world. These contrasting ideas can be used to reread political debates over concrete juridical matters, thereby highlighting possible resolutions. This work follows the calls of Ming Xie and David Damrosch for a contextualization of different comparative practices around the globe.

The Rigveda

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Jamison ◽  
Joel Brereton
Keyword(s):  
World Literature ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Sanskrit Text ◽  
World Religion ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
The World ◽  
Small Band ◽  
Second Millennium Bce ◽  
And Function

The Ṛgveda is a monumental text in both world religion and world literature; yet it is comparatively little known outside a small band of specialists. The oldest Sanskrit text, composed in the latter half of the second millennium BCE, it stands as the foundational text of what will later be called Hinduism. The text consists of over a thousand hymns dedicated to various divinities, composed in sophisticated and often enigmatic poetry. Its range is large—encompassing profound meditations on cosmic enigmas, exuberant tributes to the wonders of the world, ardent praise of the gods and their works, moving and sometimes painful expressions of personal devotion, and penetrating reflections on the ability of mortals to approach and affect the divine and cosmic realms through sacrifice and praise. This guide introduces the text to a wider audience. It provides an overview of the text, its structure, and the process of its composition and collection; treats its purpose and how this purpose is reflected in the contents and structure of the text; gives a sense of the text by quoting verses and complete hymns; situates it in the religious practices of its time; and considers its use and reception in later periods, which saw profound changes in religious practices and beliefs. It will also introduce the literary qualities of the text and the poets’ belief in the role of their poetry in making sense of, and indeed creating, cosmic order and function by pressing the boundaries of language itself.

scholarly journals MODERN GEORGIAN COMPARATIVE STUDIES: DIRECTIONS OF RESEARCH, MAIN ISSUES

2021 ◽  
pp. 22-36
Author(s):  
Liudmyla Hrytsyk ◽  
Ivane Mchedeladze
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Comparative Studies ◽  
World Literature ◽  
Literary Translation ◽  
National Literature ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Material Research ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Theory Of Literature

Taking into account the factual material, research methods, and tasks, the authors trace the evolution/changes in Georgian comparative studies. It is notable that typological approaches, along with contact-genetic ones, are now actively used. These changes become firmly established due to the studies of iconic figures and periods, which attract the special attention of the scholars. Eurocentric concepts give place to other ones that have their basis in the study of the national literature and include philosophical, anthropological, psychological, and religious factors in the field of research. A lot of attention has been given to the principles of selecting literary texts for translation. The field of Georgian comparative studies has been remarkably changed/updated in the late 20th — early 21st centuries. Along with historians of literature, the theorists, critics, translators, and specialists in European and Oriental languages have been involved, which affected the level of comparative studies. Among the raised issues are reception, imagology, typology of anti-colonial narratives, genre transformations, postmodern discourse, etc. The character of Georgian-Ukrainian comparative studies changed drastically: it is obvious in the approaches/assessments of literary translation and in all connecting issues in general. Comparative studies came as close as possible to the theory of literature, which let the researchers (R. Khvedelidze, N. Naskidashvili, S. Chkhatarashvili, I. Mchedeladze) update the methodology and intensify their work on the diff erent levels of research, regardless of the presence/absence of contexts. The present surge in Georgian comparative studies started in the 2010s. It is connected to the organization of effective specialized research centers. Of great interest are the comparative studies aiming to show the history of Georgian literature as an individual version of the world literature (I. Ratiani), to identify the features of the Georgian literary canon based on the three main literary models (Middle Ages, Romanticism, post-Soviet), with a focus on the combination of ‘canonical’ and ‘non-canonical’ in innovative writing.

Reading the World, Reading the Self

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 479-496
Author(s):  
Laura Lucia Rossi
Keyword(s):  
World Literature ◽  
The Self ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Literary Studies ◽  
The Core ◽  
The World ◽  
Transparent Objects ◽  
Meaning Production

This article is a reflection on the wordy and worldly characters of literary texts that invites us to focus on how their referentiality unfolds in the act of reading. The article focuses in particular on the necessity for world literature to factor in the subjective involvement of the reader entailed by literary communication. It does so by firstly revisiting the old debate about referentiality and contextualization of literary texts in literary studies, and specifically within world literature, which is particularly concerned with understanding the boundaries of literary communication. It then analyses how the worldly and wordy components of literature can be brought together by considering the act of reading as the core of meaning production and as a process of generative construction, which, when based on the interaction between readers and distant texts, like in the specific case of world literature, has the possibility to maximize its potential. Engaging with Iser's and Poulet's phenomenological approaches to the act of reading, the article argues against the vision of literary texts as transparent objects and encourages scholars working on world literature to embrace the translucency and generative potential that literature offers, inviting them to embrace aesthetic and anthropological perspectives so as to understand works of world literature as tools for interpretation both of the world and of ourselves.

World Authorship

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
World Literature ◽  
World History ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Human Element ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
Real Places ◽  
Different Parts

Booksellers, authors, and academics have been talking about world literature since Goethe made the term fashionable in the early nineteenth century. Yet amidst all the talk of books that ‘circulate’ and literature as a kind of ‘universal property’ that can function as a ‘window on the world’, how do we account for the people who live in real places, and who write, translate, market, and read the texts that travel on these global journeys? This handbook breaks new ground by showing how to bring together the real-world contexts of authorship with the literary worlds of fiction through the concept of the world author. ‘World authorship’ is a practical update on Michel Foucault’s ‘author function’ that significantly expands the network of people and practices involved with literature and is at the same time more grounded in the study of actual literary texts. The concept is set out in detail in a rigorous introduction followed by twenty-five keyword chapters that cover all core aspects of world authorship, from ‘Beginnings’ to ‘Voice’, and have been written by professionals who work right across the sector. In its entirety, the handbook illuminates how literature is made and shared in different parts of the world and at different times of world history. At the heart of all contributions, however, is one key question: where is the human element in world literature? Established authors, translators, publishers, prize judges, and festival coordinators as well as academics from a range of different disciplinary backgrounds collectively give us the answer.

Focus on Elementary: Connecting Words to the World: Literature Connections for Social Studies Through Text Sets

2016 ◽  
Vol 92 (3) ◽  
pp. 250-253
Author(s):  
Patricia A. Crawford ◽  
Sherron Killingsworth Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
World Literature ◽  
The World

Literary transnationalism: A Europeanist’s perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
World Literature ◽  
American Studies ◽  
Literary Form ◽  
Analytical Tool ◽  
Literary Discourse ◽  
Nation State ◽  
European Literature ◽  
The World ◽  
National Literatures

Literary transnationalism is a relatively new term critically mediating the relationships between national literatures and the wider forces of globalizing culture. ‘Literary’ or ‘critical’ ‘transnationalism’ describes aspects of literary circulation and movement that defy reduction to the level of the nation-state. The term originated in American Studies as a means of bringing American literary discourse into a new relationship with the world that it inhabits. Can the concept of ‘transnationalism’ help in broader discussions of world literature and literary globalization? Literary transnationalism in this sense would identify that point at which two or more geo-cultural imaginaries intersect, connect, engage with, disrupt or conflict with each other in literary form. In this article I discuss transnationalism in terms of its origins and intellectual history in order to suggest ways in which transnational theory might be developed as an analytical tool of both global breadth and historical depth with particular reference to European literature.

Bringing the Monkey King to the World

2021 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-259
Author(s):  
Ji Hao
Keyword(s):  
World Literature ◽  
Chinese Poetry ◽  
National Context ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The World ◽  
David Damrosch ◽  
Monkey King ◽  
Xiyou Ji ◽  
National Literatures

By the end of 1930s, Waley had already established his reputation as a sinologist and an outstanding translator of Chinese poetry. Under what circumstances did Waley decide to translate the novel Xiyou ji into English? How does Monkey connect to social and literary realities during his time? If we follow Pascale Casanova’s application of Abram de Swaan’s “floral figuration” to her discussion on the literary world, how is this Chinese novel of the periphery linked to the center through Waley’s translation and other “cosmopolitan intermediaries”? Furthermore, if world literature, as David Damrosch proposes, is “an elliptical refraction of national literatures,” in what ways does Monkey respond to the tension between the receiving culture and its national context? By addressing those questions, this paper seeks to demonstrate Waley’s multiple relationship with Xiyou ji and highlight various factors that contribute to the canonization of the novel in a larger space of world literature.

Indonesian Literature’s Position in World Literature

TEKNOSASTIK ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Dina Amelia
Keyword(s):  
World Literature ◽  
The Other ◽  
National Literature ◽  
Western World ◽  
The World ◽  
The One ◽  
The Voice

There are two most inevitable issues on national literature, in this case Indonesian literature. First is the translation and the second is the standard of world literature. Can one speak for the other as a representative? Why is this representation matter? Does translation embody the voice of the represented? Without translation Indonesian literature cannot gain its recognition in world literature, yet, translation conveys the voice of other. In the case of production, publication, or distribution of Indonesian Literature to the world, translation works can be very beneficial. The position of Indonesian literature is as a part of world literature. The concept that the Western world should be the one who represent the subaltern can be overcome as long as the subaltern performs as the active speaker. If the subaltern remains silent then it means it allows the “representation” by the Western.

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