Description
Book SynopsisFrom the current vantage point of the transformation of books and libraries, Recoding World Literature presents a historical account of world literature. By locating translation, publication, and circulation on routes of Bibliomigrancy—physical and virtual movement of books--this book claims that world literature is culturally determined, historically conditioned, and politically charged.
Trade Review"This is a splendid, erudite, sophisticated, and eminently readable book that makes vital, original interventions in several interlocking fields in the humanities." -- -Leslie Adelson Cornell University "Recoding World Literature is a work of stunning scope. Drawing on archives across languages and countries, from Goethe to Pamuk, and taking seriously the well-known fact that world literature was in origin a German idea, Mani provides a fresh and alternative history of this now hegemonic concept. The discussion about world literature is about to undergo a definite reorientation." -- -Aamir Mufti University of California, Los Angeles "Venkat Mani's engrossing study of 'bibliomigrancy' makes an important contribution to studies of world literature and the politics of culture, probing the values-and the exclusions-encoded in libraries, translation series, and now the digital archive. Every bibliophile will want to add this sparkling and thought- provoking book to their personal library." -- -David Damrosch Harvard University
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments List of Figures Prologue Introduction. Recoding World Literature: Libraries, Print Culture, and Germany's Pact with Books 1. Of Masters and Masterpieces: An Empire of Books, a Mythic European Library 2. Half Epic, Half Drastic: From a Parliament of Letters to a National Library 3. The Shadow of Empty Shelves: Two World Wars and the Rise and Fall of World Literature 4. Windows on the Berlin Wall: Unfinished (Hi)Stories of World Literature in a Divided Germany 5. Libraries Without Walls? World Literature in the Digital Century Epilogue Notes Bibliography
