Abstract
This chapter’s brief is to introduce the question of the scale of world literature, a task one initially assumes will be a matter of ascertaining its ‘relative or proportionate size or extent’ (Oxford English Dictionary, 3.I2.a). I begin by raising the question of faith, though, as there would seem to be little point in trying to get the measure of an object that no one believes exists. Granted, the existence of atoms and planets do not depend on one’s faith in them, but ‘world literature’ is not a concept like an atom or a planet; or at least not necessarily. What I will argue in this chapter is that the question of the scale of world literature pivots on whether one regards the term as having an ideal or empirical referent.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | The Cambridge Companion to World Literature |
Editors | Ben Etherington, Jarad Zimbler |
Place of Publication | U.K. |
Publisher | U.K. |
Pages | 52-68 |
Number of pages | 17 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9781108613354 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781108457842 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2018 |
Keywords
- history and criticism
- literature