World Literature as Geoculture - by Theo D'Haen (Hardcover)

About the Book

World Literature as Geoculture makes a case for studying literature in its most diverse manifestations as the cultural corollary to geopolitics.

Book Synopsis

World Literature as Geoculture applies a geopolitical perspective to literature. It considers literature, along with all other cultural elements, as both formed by and constitutive of a region's, nation's, or continent's global position. The book opens with a chapter discussing the general relation between geopolitics and world literature. It then turns to more detailed discussions of the relations between nation and literature, European literature, comparative literature and translation, global south relations, the rise and fall of literary movements or currents as reflecting geopolitical shifts, and the position of small or minor literatures. Specific chapters focus on magical realism, Edward Said, Chinese comparative literature scholarship, and Flemish literature.

About the Author

Theo D'haen, Ph.D. (1981), University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA, is Emeritus Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the universities of Leuven and Leiden. Numerous publications on (post)modernism, (post)colonialism, and world literature. Recent English-language publications include, a.o., A History of World Literature (Routledge, 2024), World Literature in an Age of Geopolitics (Brill, 2021), and The Routledge Companion to World Literature, Second Edition (Routledge, 2022, ed. with D. Damrosch and D. Kadir)