German Literature as World Literature

This new collection investigates German literature in its international dimensions. While no single volume can deal comprehensively with such a vast topic, the nine contributors cover a wide historical range, with a variety of approaches and authors represented. Together, the essays begin to adumbrate the systematic nature of the relations between German national literature and world literature as these have developed through institutions, cultural networks, and individual authors.

In the last two decades, discussions of world literature—literature that resonates beyond its original linguistic and cultural contexts—have come increasingly to the forefront of theoretical investigations of literature. One reason for the explosion of world literature theory, pedagogy and methodology is the difficulty of accomplishing either world literature criticism, or world literary history. The capaciousness, as well as the polylingual and multicultural features of world literature present formidable obstacles to its study, and call for a collaborative approach that conjoins a variety of expertise. To that end, this collection contributes to the critical study of world literature in its textual, institutional, and translatorial reality, while at the same time highlighting a question that has hitherto received insufficient scholarly attention: what is the relation between national and world literatures, or, more specifically, in what senses do national literatures systematically participate in (or resist) world literature?

"[German Literature as World Literature] includes nine discrete essays arranged in three parts, all with headings in both German and English that highlight the difficulty of finding equivalent terms in translation. More than a simple nod to Emily Apter’s challenge of ‘untranslatability’ in her Against World Literature (2013), such attention to detail is representative of the careful and reflective way in which Beebee treats the subject matter and of his solid grounding on the theoretical questions at hand. ... German Literature as World Literature engages with traditional understandings of German literary history without in any way merely duplicating them. ... All of its essays are relevant and meaningful contributions to the debate.” - Journal of European Studies

“Part 1 is recommended particularly for Goethe scholars and is of interest more generally as an exploration of the tradition of intersections that Beebee discusses in his “World-Literature Model” … the second part offers a wealth of expertise on how individual modern authors helped shape the concept of world literature … German Literature as World Literature is a must read for Germanists who study modern literature and other scholars interested in the concepts of national literary canons and world literature. Readers will benefit greatly from this highly rewarding collection.” – Goethe Yearbook