World Literature: A Reader

World Literature is an increasingly influential subject in literary studies, which has led to the re-framing of contemporary ideas of ‘national literatures’, language and translation.

World Literature: A Reader brings together thirty essential readings which display the theoretical foundations of the subject, as well as showing its conceptual development over a two hundred year period.

The book features:

• an illuminating introduction to the subject, with suggested reading paths to help readers navigate through the materials
• texts exploring key themes such as globalization, cosmopolitanism, post/trans-nationalism, and translation and nationalism
• writings by major figures including J. W. Goethe, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Longxi Zhao, David Damrosch, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Pascale Casanova and Milan Kundera.

The early explorations of the meaning of ‘Weltliteratur’ are introduced, while twenty-first century interpretations by leading scholars today show the latest critical developments in the field. The editors offer readers the ideal introduction to the theories and debates surrounding the impact of this crucial area on the modern literary landscape.

Theo D’haen is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at K.U. Leuven University, Belgium and has also worked in Holland, France and America. He is Editor-in-Chief of the European Review, and President of FILLM (Fédération Internationale de Langues et Littératures Modernes) 2008-2012.

César Domínguez is Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. He is a member of boards of the Spanish Comparative Literature Association and the European Network for Comparative Literary Studies, Chair of the ICLA Research Committee, and member of the ICLA Coordinating Committee and the Academia Europaea.

Mads Rosendahl Thomsen is Asscociate Professor in Comparative Literature at Aarhus University, Denmark. He is the author of Mapping World Literature: International Canonization and Transnational Literatures.