Home Literary Studies 1 The Beginnings of the Concept (Goethe, Marx, Said) – Readings from a Postcolonial Perspective
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1 The Beginnings of the Concept (Goethe, Marx, Said) – Readings from a Postcolonial Perspective

  • Reingard Nethersole
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Handbook of Anglophone World Literatures
This chapter is in the book Handbook of Anglophone World Literatures

Abstract

When Goethe popularized the essentially eighteenth-century cosmopolitan idea of world literature, Europe was still regarded as center of the universe. But post-Napoleonic era wars of national liberation fostered growing nationalistic sentiment in the nineteenth century while at the same time technological advances enabled speedier and easier transportation across borders, that enhanced commerce and communication. Inspired by industrial development, Goethe and Marx propagated world-wide cultural and economic expansion overcoming local narrow- mindedness. And by embracing Auerbach’s philologically inflected and historically sensitive criticism, Said transformed our ways of thinking about literary voices from the former colonial empires, completely changing our ideas on how texts and images circulate, migrate and mutate in global interdependence.

Abstract

When Goethe popularized the essentially eighteenth-century cosmopolitan idea of world literature, Europe was still regarded as center of the universe. But post-Napoleonic era wars of national liberation fostered growing nationalistic sentiment in the nineteenth century while at the same time technological advances enabled speedier and easier transportation across borders, that enhanced commerce and communication. Inspired by industrial development, Goethe and Marx propagated world-wide cultural and economic expansion overcoming local narrow- mindedness. And by embracing Auerbach’s philologically inflected and historically sensitive criticism, Said transformed our ways of thinking about literary voices from the former colonial empires, completely changing our ideas on how texts and images circulate, migrate and mutate in global interdependence.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Editors’ Preface V
  3. Contents VII
  4. 0 Introduction 1
  5. Part I: Historical Approaches – Genealogies of World Literatures
  6. 1 The Beginnings of the Concept (Goethe, Marx, Said) – Readings from a Postcolonial Perspective 15
  7. 2 Re-Reading Classical Approaches from a Postcolonial Perspective: Pascale Casanova, Franco Moretti, David Damrosch 31
  8. 3 Macaulay’s Magic Hat: The Colonial Education System and the Canon of World Literature 41
  9. 4 The King’s English and the Mother Tongue 53
  10. 5 Rethinking English Studies 67
  11. Part II: Concepts and Methods of Anglophone World Literatures
  12. 6 Global Literature, World Literature and Worlding Literature: Some Conceptual Differences 85
  13. 7 Barbarians: Cosmopolitanism Beyond the Center-Periphery Model 103
  14. 8 Anglophone World Literatures and World Ecologies (Environmental Humanities) 119
  15. 9 Anglophone World Literatures and Transcultural Memory 133
  16. 10 Anglophone World Literatures and Translation 149
  17. 11 Comparative Literature 161
  18. 12 Genres of Anglophone World Literatures 175
  19. 13 Decolonizing World Literature through Orality 193
  20. 14 Intermediality and Remediation 209
  21. Part III: Sociological Approaches – Distribution, Reception and Translation of Anglophone World Literature
  22. 15 Marketing Anglophone World Literatures 229
  23. 16 Canons and Canonicity in Anglophone Literature 245
  24. 17 Teaching Anglophone World Literature 263
  25. 18 Anglophone World Literatures, the Internet and the Digital Humanities 275
  26. Part IV: Literary Worlds – Locations and Orientations
  27. 19 Britain 291
  28. 20 Ireland 313
  29. 21 USA 333
  30. 22 Canada 355
  31. 23 The Oceans 375
  32. 24 The Caribbean 395
  33. 25 Southern Africa 415
  34. 26 West Africa 433
  35. 27 East Africa 451
  36. 28 South Asia 471
  37. 29 Southeast Asia (Hong Kong and Singapore) 489
  38. 30 Australia 511
  39. 31 New Zealand Literature and the World 531
  40. Name Index 549
  41. Subject Index 567
  42. List of Contributors 579
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110583182-002

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Editors’ Preface V
  3. Contents VII
  4. 0 Introduction 1
  5. Part I: Historical Approaches – Genealogies of World Literatures
  6. 1 The Beginnings of the Concept (Goethe, Marx, Said) – Readings from a Postcolonial Perspective 15
  7. 2 Re-Reading Classical Approaches from a Postcolonial Perspective: Pascale Casanova, Franco Moretti, David Damrosch 31
  8. 3 Macaulay’s Magic Hat: The Colonial Education System and the Canon of World Literature 41
  9. 4 The King’s English and the Mother Tongue 53
  10. 5 Rethinking English Studies 67
  11. Part II: Concepts and Methods of Anglophone World Literatures
  12. 6 Global Literature, World Literature and Worlding Literature: Some Conceptual Differences 85
  13. 7 Barbarians: Cosmopolitanism Beyond the Center-Periphery Model 103
  14. 8 Anglophone World Literatures and World Ecologies (Environmental Humanities) 119
  15. 9 Anglophone World Literatures and Transcultural Memory 133
  16. 10 Anglophone World Literatures and Translation 149
  17. 11 Comparative Literature 161
  18. 12 Genres of Anglophone World Literatures 175
  19. 13 Decolonizing World Literature through Orality 193
  20. 14 Intermediality and Remediation 209
  21. Part III: Sociological Approaches – Distribution, Reception and Translation of Anglophone World Literature
  22. 15 Marketing Anglophone World Literatures 229
  23. 16 Canons and Canonicity in Anglophone Literature 245
  24. 17 Teaching Anglophone World Literature 263
  25. 18 Anglophone World Literatures, the Internet and the Digital Humanities 275
  26. Part IV: Literary Worlds – Locations and Orientations
  27. 19 Britain 291
  28. 20 Ireland 313
  29. 21 USA 333
  30. 22 Canada 355
  31. 23 The Oceans 375
  32. 24 The Caribbean 395
  33. 25 Southern Africa 415
  34. 26 West Africa 433
  35. 27 East Africa 451
  36. 28 South Asia 471
  37. 29 Southeast Asia (Hong Kong and Singapore) 489
  38. 30 Australia 511
  39. 31 New Zealand Literature and the World 531
  40. Name Index 549
  41. Subject Index 567
  42. List of Contributors 579
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