{"product_id":"what-is-world-literature-david-damrosch-9780691049861","title":"What Is World Literature?","description":"\u003cp\u003eWorld literature was long defined in North America as an established canon of European masterpieces, but an emerging global perspective has challenged both this European focus and the very category of \"the masterpiece.\" The first book to look broadly at the contemporary scope and purposes of world literature, \u003ci\u003eWhat Is World Literature?\u003c\/i\u003e probes the uses and abuses of world literature in a rapidly changing world. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn case studies ranging from the Sumerians to the Aztecs and from medieval mysticism to postmodern metafiction, David Damrosch looks at the ways works change as they move from national to global contexts. Presenting world literature not as a canon of texts but as a mode of circulation and of reading, Damrosch argues that world literature is work that gains in translation. When it is effectively presented, a work of world literature moves into an elliptical space created between the source and receiving cultures, shaped by both but circumscribed by neither alone. Established classics and new discoveries alike participate in this mode of circulation, but they can be seriously mishandled in the process. From the rediscovered \u003ci\u003eEpic of Gilgamesh\u003c\/i\u003e in the nineteenth century to Rigoberta Menchú's writing today, foreign works have often been distorted by the immediate needs of their own editors and translators. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eEloquently written, argued largely by example, and replete with insightful close readings, this book is both an essay in definition and a series of cautionary tales.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e David Damrosch\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0691049866\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780691049861\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Princeton University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/30\/2003\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 344\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.07lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.34h x 6.08w x 0.84d","brand":"David Damrosch","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44120038310143,"sku":"9780691049861","price":48.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_ab7e283f-07fb-4f30-87f0-fd845a63d6da.jpg?v=1687412233","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/what-is-world-literature-david-damrosch-9780691049861","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}