Handbook

Subject Area: English

In 1820, the poet Goethe coined the term ‘world literature’ as an expansive way of thinking about the circulation of texts around the globe, and the new forms of being in the world that were being traced by them. Two centuries later, Goethe’s phrase is taking centre-stage again, speaking to the very different globalised present of our own time.  Taking a range of compelling literary texts (contemporary novels, poetry and drama) as a starting point, this course invites you to explore this notion of ‘world literature’ and to investigate related ideas of literary ‘world systems’ and global structures of literary production, translation and recognition.   You will think in some detail about literary language, form and genre as a way of first approaching formulations of the ‘local’ and ‘locality’, and then establishing related questions of diverse cultural, linguistic and literary contexts.

 The course is organised into two modules: ‘Water’ and ‘Land’. This geographical focus will support the scope of your reading and foster discussion within and across certain formulations of the ‘world’ literary canon.  You will think about questions of global movement and situated belonging, as well as current literary engagements with areas of urgent concern: vulnerable bodies, territorial conflict, ecology, the city and the animating question of global centres and peripheries. Wonder, knowledge, ethics and exploration are key themes that transect both modules.