The Many Languages of Comparative Literature: A valuable contribution to discussions of world literature

Strany: 132 - 145

Jazyk: eng

This study examines papers and discussions from the 2016 XXI International Congress of ICLA/AILC in Vienna The Many Languages of Comparative Literature, which have recently been published in a five-volume collection (2020–2024) edited by the Austrian comparatist Achim Hölter. The individual contributions explore the many ways in which language shapes the character of national and world literature, and the discipline of comparative literary studies itself. For the comparatist, language shapes the concentrated marketplace of world literature whose globalization provides a limited choice of languages and thus encourages discourse in world languages. It turns out that world literature from the perspective of “language” can be understood in two ways: 1) as a diversified set of plural or parallel “voices” in “big” or “small” languages, and 2) as a canon of literary texts whose multicultural sources are reciprocated exclusively through the filter of translation and the economic market. According to Hölter, this situation can be countered by “two turns”: epistemological reflection and a greater knowledge of disciplinary history. Finally, a “comparative laboratory of concepts” of world literature is needed to take a more intensive account of the large register of languages and local traditions.

ISO 690:

Zelenka, M., Klamárová, K. 2025. The Many Languages of Comparative Literature: A valuable contribution to discussions of world literature. In World Literature Studies, vol. 17, no.3, pp. 132-145. 1337-9275. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31577/WLS.2025.17.3.11

APA:

Zelenka, M., Klamárová, K. (2025). The Many Languages of Comparative Literature: A valuable contribution to discussions of world literature. World Literature Studies, 17(3), 132-145. 1337-9275. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31577/WLS.2025.17.3.11

Vydavateľ: Ústav svetovej literatúry SAV, v. v. i.