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An ecology of world literature: from antiquity to the present day
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2015
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Literary TheoryNationalismPresent DayPolitical LiteratureLiterary StudiesCultural TextHistorical ScholarshipCultural StudiesComparative LiteratureLiterary CriticismCultural AnalysisLiterary FictionCultural HistoryLanguage StudiesWorld LiteraturesClassicsCultural GeographyLiterary StudyComparative World LiteraturesWorld Literatures In TranslationAncient EpicLiterary HistoryAlexander BeecroftArtsCase Studies
The study examines what defines a nation's literature and how different national literatures interact. It aims to introduce a novel conceptual framework for understanding world literature. The author employs diverse case studies from ancient epics to contemporary works by Bolaño and Ghosh to illustrate this framework. The book demonstrates that literary ecologies range from small societies to the global level, linking scholarly views on ancient and modern, Western and non‑Western texts, and charting new directions for literary study.
What constitutes a nation's literature? How do literatures of different countries interact with one another? In this groundbreaking study, Alexander Beecroft develops a new way of thinking about world literature. Drawing on a series of examples and case studies, the book ranges from ancient epic to the contemporary fiction of Roberto BolaNo and Amitav Ghosh. Moving across literary ecologies of varying sizes, from small societies to the planet as a whole, the environments in which literary texts are produced and circulated, An Ecology of World Literature places in dialogue scholarly perspectives on ancient and modern, western and non-western texts, navigating literary study into new and uncharted territory.