Against World Literature
On the Politics of Untranslatability
Published on 10. June 2014
384 pages
978-1-78478-003-6 (ISBN)
Description
Against World Literature: On the Politics of Untranslatability argues for a rethinking of comparative literature focusing on the problems that emerge when large-scale paradigms of literary studies ignore the politics of the "Untranslatable"-the realm of those words that are continually retranslated, mistranslated, transferred from language to language, or especially resistant to substitution.
In the place of "World Literature"-a dominant paradigm in the humanities, one grounded in market-driven notions of readability and universal appeal-Apter proposes a plurality of "world literatures" oriented around philosophical concepts and geopolitical pressure points. The history and theory of the language that constructs World Literature is critically examined with a special focus on Weltliteratur, literary world systems, narrative ecosystems, language borders and checkpoints, theologies of translation, and planetary devolution in a book set to revolutionize the discipline of comparative literature.
In the place of "World Literature"-a dominant paradigm in the humanities, one grounded in market-driven notions of readability and universal appeal-Apter proposes a plurality of "world literatures" oriented around philosophical concepts and geopolitical pressure points. The history and theory of the language that constructs World Literature is critically examined with a special focus on Weltliteratur, literary world systems, narrative ecosystems, language borders and checkpoints, theologies of translation, and planetary devolution in a book set to revolutionize the discipline of comparative literature.
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Edition
Ebook UK & RoW
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Reflowable
ISBN-13
978-1-78478-003-6 (9781784780036)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
04/2013
Verso Books
€38.00
Shipment within 3-4 weeks
Person
Emily Apter is Professor of Comparative Literature and French at New York University. Her published works include The Translation Zone: A New Comparative Literature and Against World Literature.
Content
- Intro
- Halftitle Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part One: Oneworldliness
- I. Untranslatables: A World-System
- II. Moretti's Literary World-Systems
- III. Eurochronology and Periodicity
- IV. Paranoid Globalism
- V. Checkpoints and Sovereign Borders
- Part Two: Doing Things with Untranslatables
- I. Keywords 1: "Cyclopaedia"
- II. Keywords 2: "Peace"
- III. Keywords 3: "Fado" and "Saudade"
- IV. Keywords 4: "Sex" and "Gender"
- V. Keywords 5: "Monde"
- Part Three: Translating "World Literature"
- I. Auerbach's Welt-theology
- II. Said's Terrestrial Humanism
- III. Derrida's Theologies of Translation
- IV. Kilito's Injunction: "Thou Shalt Not Translate Me"
- Part Four: Who Owns My Translation?
- I. Marx's Bovary
- II. What Is Yours, Ours, and Mine
- III. Dispossessive Collectivism
- IV. Planetary Dysphoria
- Index
