Asian Philosophy, National Literatures, and World Literature Anthologies

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junjie Luo
Keyword(s):  
World Literature ◽  
Asian Philosophy ◽  
Literature Anthologies ◽  
National Literatures

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 Reading World Literature: Elliptical or Hyperbolic? The Case of Second-World National Literatures

2012 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Andrei Terian
Keyword(s):  
World Literature ◽  
Second World ◽  
National Literatures

Epilogue Arab Literature, World Literature

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tahia Abdel Nasser
Keyword(s):  
World Literature ◽  
Literary Study ◽  
Arab Literature ◽  
Literary Systems ◽  
National Literatures

This chapter looks at the effects of autobiographical production in other languages and translation on the globality of national literatures and world literary study. It examines current theorisations of world literature and considers Arab autobiography within new literary systems.

scholarly journals Under Children's Eyes: Becoming Pious in Tayeb Salih and Pramoedya Ananta Toer Short Stories

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-46
Author(s):  
Novita Dewi
Keyword(s):  
Short Stories ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
World Literature ◽  
Muslim Society ◽  
Child Characters ◽  
Tayeb Salih ◽  
Pramoedya Ananta Toer ◽  
Child Narrators ◽  
Literature Anthologies ◽  
Islamic Society

This research seeks to discuss how child characters navigate their interactions with the adults in two short stories set in the predominantly Islamic society of Sudan and Indonesia. It examines Tayeb Salih’s “A Handful of Dates” (1964) and Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s “Circumcision” (1950) by locating both texts in World Literature which is largely Western or Eurocentric. Both short stories belong to the genre of initiation fiction often included in world literature anthologies. This paper argues that both authors help contribute to not only the rethinking of World Literature concept and circulation thereof, but also balanced view of heterogonous, multicultural Muslim society. Using post-Genette focalization theory as conceptual framework, this study finds out that the child narrators play distinct roles as (1) the perceptual focalizer to reveal injustice and frivolity of the adults’ world; (2) the ideological focalizer to make meaning of children’s faith through their relationship with the grown-ups. [Penelitian ini bertujuan membahas bagaimana tokoh anak berinteraksi dengan orang-orang dewasa dalam dua cerita pendek dari negara berpenduduk mayoritas Islam, Sudan dan Indonesia. Karya Tayeb Shalih, "A Handful of Dates"[Segenggam Kurma] (1964) dan karya Pramoedya Ananta Toer "Sunat" (1950) dikaji dengan menempatkan kedua teks dalam Sastra Dunia yang cenderung berkiblat ke dunia Barat dan Eropa. Kedua cerita pendek  bergenre fiksi inisiasi ini sering diikutkan dalam antologi sastra dunia. Makalah ini menunjukkan bahwa kedua penulis memberikan kontribusi dalam penafsiran ulang konsep dan peredaran Sastra Dunia, serta pandangan yang lebih seimbang terhadap masyarakat Muslim yang heterogen dan multikultural. Menggunakan Teori Fokalisasi Pasca-Genette sebagai kerangka konseptual, studi ini menyimpulkan bahwa tokoh anak dalam kedua cerpen memainkan peran yang berbeda sebagai (1) focalizer (penyuara) perseptif yang mengungkapkan ketidakadilan dan kedegilan dunia orang dewasa; (2) penyuara ideologis yang memaknai keimanan anak lewat relasi dengan orang-orang dewasa.]

The 1960s and Paradise Lost in Korean

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Hae Yeon ◽  
Angelica Duran
Keyword(s):  
World Literature ◽  
Paradise Lost ◽  
The South ◽  
South Korean Government ◽  
South Korean ◽  
Korean Government ◽  
Foreign Literature ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Literature Anthologies

This chapter chronicles one of the most recent language traditions to participate in translation of Milton’s works: Korean. Close readings of the two landmark full translations of Paradise Lost of 1963 reflect the leadership of the South Korean government and Korean scholars to make available foreign literature, even highly provocative and Christian works. Korea’s socio-political moment is evinced in such elements as these translations’ characterizations of Satan and uses of Japanese translations as complements to English source texts. It is also seen in their production not as stand-alone publications or personal initiatives but rather as components of world literature anthologies by major Korean publishers cooperating with the Korean government and, by extension, with US funding and direction.

Anthologizing Arabic Literature

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 512-526
Author(s):  
Omar Khalifah
Keyword(s):  
World Literature ◽  
Literary Tradition ◽  
Arabic Literature ◽  
Literature Anthologies

This paper examines the ways in which Arabic literature has been introduced into world literature anthologies. Taking The Longman Anthology of World Literature as a case study, the paper questions the politics of the inclusions and exclusions of Arabic literature in the anthology. Pertinent to the discussion is to ponder the nature of Arabic literature that “makes it” into the anthology. In addition, the paper will demonstrate how the anthology in fact obscures, rather than illuminates, major historical trajectories of Arabic literature. The complexity of Arabic literature, its highly self-reflexive texts, and its internal developments throughout history beg for a different approach that, I argue, this world literature anthology is lacking. Equally significant, The Longman recycles several common orientalist clichés about Arabic literature, the most important of which is that there is no Arabic literature worthy of inclusion in the three volumes of the anthology spanning the thirteenth-nineteenth centuries. As for the pieces that are included, the paper will reflect on the size and space they are offered, arguing that these are not arbitrary choices, but rather indicative of how a non-Western literary tradition is appropriated into a world literature anthology.

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.

Debating World Literature

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 239-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hendrik Birus
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
World Literature ◽  
Literary Translation ◽  
Turn Of The Millennium ◽  
Literary Systems ◽  
National Literatures

Abstract Since the turn of the millennium the idea of “World Literature” has experienced a boom. This development is closely connected with the increasingly rapid globalization process, which began during the first few decades of the nineteenth century and led to the co-emergence of Weltliteratur and Littérature comparée in 1827. Goethe’s proclamation of the “Epoch of World Literature” created the impression that existing national literatures were to be supplanted; instead, however, the same period simultaneously witnessed the latter’s triumphant proliferation. Beecroft’s typology of the evolution of literary systems may assist in overcoming the rather pointless antithesis between world literature and national literatures. Since literary translation now plays an increasingly important role, it has become an indispensable factor contributing to the flourishing of world literature.

When Small is Big and Big is Small

2020 ◽  
pp. 267-272
Author(s):  
Svend Erik Larsen
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Literature ◽  
World Literature ◽  
European Literature ◽  
Theoretical Conceptualization ◽  
National Literatures

The leading Danish comparative literature scholar, Svend Erik Larsen, responds to the findings of the volume. Writing from the perspective of a smaller European literature, but with a wealth of experience and knowledge of world literature scholarship, his conclusion assesses how the volume confirms, challenges or changes prevailing theoretical views of the type of national literatures under discussion and highlights where the need for further research and theoretical conceptualization is most pressing.

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