Literature in the World: Introduction

Abstract

ABSTRACT Coined by Christoph Martin Wieland and promoted by Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Weltliteratur/‘world literature’ has gained extraordinary traction in comparative literature, post-colonial studies, and Goethe studies. This article provides an overview of the emergence of Weltliteratur in Goethe’s critical activities, offering a comparison to its mutation into the contemporary critical framework of world literature. Adopting a genealogical approach, Edward Said’s ‘worldliness’ concept allows a consideration of literature’s materiality — from ‘bibliomigrancy’ (Mani) to the socio-economic locatedness of authors, works, and their critics — in relation to Weltliteratur/world literature. The article concludes with an overview of the essays in this special thematic issue of PEGS on ‘Literature in the World’.