Book Review: Bulgarian Literature as World Literature, edited by Mihaela P. Harper and Dimitar Kambourov (Review Essay)

The essay reviews a recent collection of seminal critical readings of Bulgarian literature as “world literature.” Published by Bloomsbury Academic, the volume under discussion contributes to the study of the dynamic interaction of “minor” literatures with local, regional, and wider manifestations of global literary space. It is organized in four sections of thematic contributions authored by scholars from Bulgaria and beyond that discuss historical, geographical, economic, and genetic processes in the development of Bulgarian literature. The review follows the sections closely, and is attentive to specific phenomena, positions, texts, and contexts that render the concept of “minor literature” negotiable and open to reformulations. As most of the static labels are nowadays flushed into the conglomerate of “marginocentricity” and the reality of “quality literature” is no longer a criterion in the admission of local literatures to worldwide prominence, literary circulation has, to a great extent, become a function of the global market. The publication of the reviewed volume is the outcome of a vigorous effort to establish Bulgaria’s literary location within these processes and beyond them.

Romani Literature(s) As Minor Literature(s) in the Context of World Literature: A Survey of Romani Literatures in French and Spanish

The article discusses the comparatively young form of written Romani literary self-expression as an example of “minor literature” in Deleuze and Guattari’s sense.[1] The focus here is on producing a classifying survey of the literary production of Romani writers in France and Spain, with the article outlining the different aesthetic fields and literary forms evident in French and Spanish Romani literature. The comparative approach reveals thatdespite regional and national differences, these minor literatures demonstrate several aesthetic similarities typical of Romani literature that could ultimately come to define the transnational, cross-border characteristics of Romani literature. Furthermore, I show that there are literary tendencies in contemporary Romani literatures that go beyond the usual forms of establishing literary self-expression in diasporic cultural productions or aesthetic appropriation of major society’s literary traditions, so that Romani literatures in French and Spanish should, I argue, also be seen as part of world literature. 1 It is important to emphasize that the potentially offending implications of the evaluative use of the term “minor” is by no means hinted at in Deleuze and Guattari: The French “literature mineure” does not indicate lower aesthetic qualities or literary inferiority to majority literature but rather describes a literature produced by writers not (exclusively) belonging to the nation-state in which they live. At the same time, it should be mentioned that the term “small literature,” in contrast to minor literatures, means literary expressions from small nations or/and in small languages like, for example, in Bulgarian, Estonian, or Luxembourgish (cf., Glesener 2012).

Theological Dogmas in Karunambara Pathigam of Veermamunivar

It is not exaggeration that Veermamunivar was very much proficient to start learning completely a different and new language after the age of thirty and to produce grammar, Literature and dictionaries in that Language. In his 36 years of life in Tamilnadu from 1711 till 1747 as a refined Tamilian. He has rendered great service in various disciplines such as making of sathuragarathi, production of grammar, Reformation in shapes of Literature, Writing Epics, creation of short-story, The advent of prose, outburst of minor literature, The bond between Tamil and Latin, The attempt to make Thirukural as Universal book. This essay attempts to explain various features such as Nature of God, His uniqueness, creations, and greatness of sacred feet, incomparable leadership, omnipotence, gracious benevolence. These features are found in one of his minor Literatures callerd Karunambara Pathigam,

THE GOD-SEEKING IN PÄR LAGERKVIST’S PROSE

Thematic justification for the article is the growing interest of researchers for so called minor literatures, including Swedish literature, as well as for the philosophical and religious themes in literary texts. The choice of topic is also motivated by the small number of research papers on Pär Lagerkvist’s works in Russian, despite the importance of his legacy for global culture. The goal of the article is to analyze the motif of god-seeking in Pär Lagerkvist’s prose and its transformation throughout his body of work. In the article the following conclusions are drawn: The motif of God-seeking, which is linked to the search for the truth and answers to eternal questions, plays an important role in P. Lagerkvist’s works, and its transformation reflects the evolution of his religious and philosophical views. While in the beginning of his literary career Lagerkvist thought it possible to give answers to eternal questions, later in his life searching and doubt themselves take on greater and greater importance and are interpreted as the human condition. The article offers a classification of the motif of god-seeking in relation to P. Lagerkvist’s body of work: outer (“The Eternal Smile”, “The Hangman”) and inner manifestations (“Barabbas”, “Guest of Reality”). In relation to the motif of god-seeking an especial importance of the figure of Jesus Christ, who symbolizes the humanistic and Christian ideal, is noted as one of the key elements of P. Lagerkvist’s poetic style.

Contact Zones and Liminal Spaces in Okinawan and Zainichi Contemporary Art

This article focuses on selected art works by third-generation Zainichi Koreans Haji Oh and Soni Kum, and Okinawan-based Chikako Yamashiro to explore ways in which these artists have continued to develop innovative, interdisciplinary practices to explore contact zones and liminal spaces in the East Asian context. Drawing on Françoise Lionnet and Shu-mei Shih’s notion of minor transnationalism, it argues the creative interventions of the three artists shed light on complex histories of minor transnationalism and at the same time alert us to ways in which the legacies of colonialism, migration and war continue to evolve in the present in Okinawa, Jeju Island, and Japan. Deploying different media, practices and techniques, all three artists aim to deterritorialize dominant visual and historical narratives and draw inspiration from minor literatures in ways that disrupt binary and vertical relationships, making visible minor to minor connections and ways of envisioning horizontal networks.

Przypadkowy turysta? John Maxwell Coetzee w Europie Środkowej – rekonesans

The article’s aim is to reflect upon the transgenerational and transnational sustainability of Central European memory in literary and cultural space of South Africa. It also investigates links between John Maxwell Coetzee’s oeuvre, as well as works by other South African authors (e.g. Dan Jacobson, Lionel Abrahams, Deborah Levy), with cultural and, above all, literary universe of Central Europe. While analysing selected literary and cultural texts (among others, hitherto unpublished archival documents), the author points to the fact that the Nobel laureate’s consistently and programmatically displayed interest in Central Europe ought to be considered within a wider context of systematic and creative “dialogue” with Central Europe which has been carried out by writers and artists from South Africa in the 20th and 21st centuries. The present study is an original attempt at capturing the phenomenon of mutual cultural flows and horizontal exchange taking place between some minor literatures (and cultures), in this case: South African and Central European.

Notes on the History of Turkish Literature from the Tanzimat (1839) to the “Revolution of the Letters” (1928)

International audience Turkish literary historiography seems to have espoused the definition of “Turkishness”, established at the time of independence in 1923, which regarded as Turkish any person of Muslim faith residing within the borders of the country, regardless of their ethnic origin and mother tongue, and has imposed it retrospectively on the multicultural world of Ottoman Turkish literature. Indeed, non-Muslim authors writing in Turkish have been excluded from the history of literature. However, as is highlighted in the first part of this article, many exchanges took place between the Turkish Muslim intelligentsia and non-Muslim Turkish-speaking intellectuals. Addressing the issue of minor literature in the Ottoman context, the second part presents Armeno-Turkish, Karamanli Turkish, Judeo-Turkish and Syro-Ottoman literatures in dialogue with Ottoman Turkish literary culture. Noting that non-Muslim writers writing with the Perso-Arabic alphabet are also largely absent from literary histories, the article addresses in the third part the impact of the “revolution of the letters”, the adoption of the Latin alphabet in 1928. This contributed not only to the occultation of the minor literatures of Ottoman Turkey, but also to that of women’s and popular literatures as well as of the Turkish Ottoman progressive tradition. L’historiographie littéraire turque semble avoir épousé la définition de la « turcité », établie au moment de l’indépendance en 1923, qui considérait comme turque toute personne de confession musulmane résidant à l’intérieur des frontières du pays, quelles que soient son origine ethnique et sa langue maternelle, et l’avoir imposé rétrospectivement au monde multiculturel des lettres turques ottomanes. En effet, les auteurs turcophones non musulmans ont été exclus de l’histoire de la littérature. Or, comme est mis en exergue dans la première partie de cet article, de nombreux échanges ont existé entre l’intelligentsia turque musulmane et les intellectuels non musulmans turcophones. Abordant la question de la littérature mineure en contexte ottoman, la deuxième partie présente les littératures arméno-turque, turque karamanli, judéo-turque et syro-ottomane en dialogue avec la culture littéraire turque ottomane. Notant que les auteurs non musulmans écrivant avec l’alphabet perso-arabe sont également largement absents des livres d’histoire de la littérature, l’article aborde dans la troisième partie l’impact de la « révolution des lettres » : l’adoption de l’alphabet latin en 1928. Celle-ci contribua non seulement à l’occultation des littératures mineures de la Turquie ottomane, mais aussi à celle des littératures féminine et populaire ainsi qu’à celle de la tradition progressiste turque ottomane. Türk edebiyat tarihçiliğinde, 1923’te, Kurtuluş Savaşı sonrasında geçerli olan “Türklük” tanımı kabul edilmiş görünüyor. Bu tanıma göre ülkenin sınırları içinde yaşayan her Müslüman, etnik kökenine ve ana diline bakılmadan, Türk olarak kabul edilmekte. Bu tanım geriye dönük olarak çok kültürlü Osmanlı Türk edebiyat dünyasına dayatılmıştır. Sonuç olarak Türkçe yazan gayrimüslim yazarlar edebiyat tarihinden dışlanmıştır. Oysa bu makalenin ilk bölümünde vurgulandığı gibi, Tanzimat sonrası dönemde Türk Müslüman aydınları ile Türkçe konuşan gayrimüslim aydınlar arasında birçok alışveriş gerçekleşmiştir. Osmanlı bağlamında minör edebiyat konusuna değinen ikinci bölüm, Osmanlı Türk edebiyat dünyasıyla diyalog içinde bulunan Ermeni harfli, Karamanlıca, İbrani harfli ve Süryani harfli Türkçe edebiyatları sunuyor. Osmanlı alfabesiyle yazan gayrimüslim yazarların da edebiyat tarihlerinde büyük ölçüde zikredilmediğine dikkat çeken makalenin üçüncü bölümünde 1928’deki harf devriminin etkisi tartışılıyor. Bu devrim, hem minör edebiyatların, hem de ilk kadın yazarların, popüler edebiyatın ve Osmanlı ilerici geleneğinin unutulmasına neden oldu.