The Cambridge Companion to World Literature

This Companion presents lucid and exemplary critical essays, introducing readers to the major ideas and practices of world literary studies.

Ben Etherington (Edited by), Jarad Zimbler (Edited by)

9781108457842, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 22 November 2018

286 pages
22.7 x 15.1 x 1.5 cm, 0.41 kg

'This book will serve as a companion for anyone's literary travels and for critical commitments needed for the journey.' A. P. Church, Choice

The Cambridge Companion to World Literature introduces the significant ideas and practices of world literary studies. It provides a lucid and accessible account of the fundamental issues and concepts in world literature, including the problems of imagining the totality of literature; comparing literary works across histories, cultures and languages; and understanding how literary production is affected by forces such as imperialism and globalization. The essays demonstrate how detailed critical engagements with particular literary texts call forth differing conceptions of world literature, and, conversely, how theories of world literature shape our practices of readings. Subjects covered include cosmopolitanism, transnationalism, internationalism, scale and systems, sociological criticism, translation, scripts, and orality. This book also includes original analyses of genres and forms, ranging from tragedy to the novel and graphic fiction, lyric poetry to the short story and world cinema.

Introduction Ben Etherington and Jarad Zimbler
Part I. Worlds: 1. Cosmopolitanism and world literature Timothy Brennan
2. Nation, transnationalism, and internationalism Anna Bernard
3. Scales, systems, and meridians Ben Etherington
4. Literary worlds and literary fields Jarad Zimbler
5. Translation and the circuits of world literature Stefan Helgesson
6. Scriptworlds Sowon Park
7. Ecologies of orality Liz Gunner
Part II. Practices: 8. Lyric universality Boris Maslov
9. On worlding tragedy Ato Quayson
10. The novel and consciousness of labour Neil Lazarus
11. The worldliness of graphic narrative Charlotta Salmi
12. Short story and peripheral production Shital Pravinchandra
13. World cinema, world literature and dialectical criticism Keya Ganguly
14. Publishing, translating, worldmaking Chris Andrews.

Subject Areas: Literary companions, book reviews & guides [DSRC], Literary reference works [DSR], Literature: history & criticism [DS]