Reading World Literature

As teachers and readers expand the canon of world literature to include writers whose voices traditionally have been silenced by the dominant culture, fundamental questions arise. What do we mean by "world"? What constitutes "literature"? Who should decide? Reading World Literature is a cumulative study of the concept and evolving practices of "world literature." As literary theory, it examines the notion of "world" as the determining term in "world literature," particularly in the light of theories of reading and of world-representation. As a practical-historical entry into current debates on educational policy, it speculates on what world literature ought to be and what it is today, and on the status of the academic course in current controversies over multiculturalism, cultural literacy, and community values. Sarah Lawall opens the book with a substantial introduction to the overall topic. Twelve original essays by distinguished specialists on a broad spectrum of geographic, chronological, and cultural issues run the gamut from close readings of specific texts to problems of translation theory and reader response. The sequence of essays develops from re-examinations of traditional canonical pieces through explorations of less familiar works to discussions of reading itself as a "literacy" dependent on worldview. Reading World Literature will open challenging new vistas for a wide audience in the humanities, from traditionalists who just want to expand the "great books" list a bit to avant-garde specialists in literary theory, cultural studies, and area studies.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction, Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.