combinng logic world history world literature christian

While some believe that world literature gains value in translation, some scholars, such as Gayatri Chakrovorty Spivak, hold the alternate view that the study of world literature often ignores the power of a work in its own language. As literature moves across boundaries of culture and language, it is, in a way, transformed into a unique cultural artifact. She posits that “texts become successfully worlded only through interpretive acts of mediation profoundly bound up in aspects of culture.” In other words, a text can never truly be independent of its translation. Valerie Henitiuk, a professor of Literature and Translation at the University of East Anglia, in a compelling 2012 essay, explored the process of translation and the meanings that it holds. World literature can be an amazing tool for analyzing globalization because it provides a wonderful example of the ways that information is shared across languages and cultures. And as new ways emerge of delivering world literature to readers worldwide, many scholars are examining the implications of translations on literature, the impact that literature has on culture, and the ways that cultures can transform books. World literature is not a new concept, but as new media technologies explode, so do new ways of disseminating books across national boundaries.

Goethe famously stated in letters to Johann Eckermann in 1827, “National literature is now a rather unmeaning term the epoch of world literature is at hand, and everyone must strive to hasten its approach.” World Literature, in the modern sense, refers to literary works that are translated into multiple languages and circulated to an audience outside their country of origin. The term “world literature” was first used by the German writer and statesman Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, referring to the dissemination of literature from and to countries across the globe. The technological advances that are connecting people worldwide through shared information are also serving as a medium to disseminate books across national and cultural boundaries. But, contrary to popular belief, literature also holds an important place in the flow of entertainment media that is coursing through the veins of public consumption in our globalized world.

When we think of globalization and forms of entertainment, we immediately think of the Internet, social media, movies, or television shows. Image credit: Greg Gershman via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Combinng logic world history world literature christian