World literature

World literature describes the total body of national literatures and their circulation. It refers to how literary works move beyond their original countries. This movement creates a global exchange of ideas and stories. Many scholars argue that circulation is the most important factor. David Damrosch explains this through a double process. First, a work must be read as literature. Second, it must circulate into a broader world. This movement happens outside its original linguistic and cultural point of origin.

Several systems work together to make this circulation possible. This process is often called "worlding" by scholar Venkat Mani. It relies heavily on developments in print culture and information transfer. Publishers and booksellers play a vital role by printing affordable books. Literate citizens help by acquiring these texts for reading. Public libraries also contribute by making books available to everyone. These groups collectively participate in the "making" of world literature.

The concept has evolved through many different historical perspectives. Johann Wolfgang Goethe used the term in the early nineteenth century. He described the international reception of works across Europe. Goethe was fascinated by Chinese novels and Persian or Serbian poetry. He also enjoyed seeing his own works translated in France. In 1827, he predicted world literature would replace national literature. This idea gained popularity after Johann Peter Eckermann published Goethe's conversations in 1835.

Other thinkers viewed the history of literature through different lenses. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels used the term in 1848. They viewed it through an economic lens of trade and exchange. They described the "cosmopolitan character" of literary production in their Manifesto. This document was published in four different languages. H. M. Posnett offered a different historical view in 1886. He argued that world literature began in ancient empires like Rome. He believed it existed long before modern national literatures emerged.

In the postwar era, the study of these works changed significantly. Comparative literature was taught at the graduate level in the United States. World literature was often taught as a first-year general education class. Early studies focused mostly on Greek, Roman, and Western-European classics. However, the late 1980s and early 1990s brought major changes. The end of the Cold War helped expand these studies. Globalization and new waves of immigration also increased global access.

We can see this expansion through famous literary collections. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces provides a clear example. Its first edition in 1956 included only Western-European and North American works. An expanded edition was released in 1995 with non-Western selections. Today, major survey anthologies showcase hundreds of authors. These collections represent dozens of different countries. This reflects a much broader understanding of the global literary landscape.

Modern scholars use diverse methods to research these global connections. Franco Moretti proposes a method called "distant reading." This approach looks at large-scale patterns in publication records. It avoids the traditional method of close reading one book at a time. Other critics like Pascale Casanova examine how writers reach metropolitan centers. They study how works from the periphery gain recognition. Meanwhile, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak warns about losing linguistic richness. She argues that translation can sometimes smooth out political forces. This ongoing debate keeps the field of world literature active and growing.