Postcolonialism and comparative literary studies
Vol.18,No.1(2015)
Abstract
Keywords:
postkolonialism; comparative literature; eurocentrism; literariness; knowledge systems; post-European culture; American Comparative Literature Association
Pages:
139–150
This overview article maps the influence of postcolonialism on comparative literature studies since the early 1990s, especially in the Anglophone area where postcolonial discourse emerged. It summarizes paradigmatic shifts in the field and outlines its current directions. These shifts include the growth of interest in the study of non-Western literatures, seeing literature and literariness in a wider socio-political context (de-mythization of the universality of literary values and imanent literariness), a change of focus from literariness to discourse and a focus on the study of the influence of political power on relations between literatures. New attention is beign paid to languages as vehicles of cultural meaning (not only European but also non-European and minor languages) and trans-cultural translation.
postkolonialism; comparative literature; eurocentrism; literariness; knowledge systems; post-European culture; American Comparative Literature Association
139–150