Study of World Literature: Key Issues
“Science and art belong to the whole world, and before them vanish the barriers of nationality.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,1813, Germany.
( Translated from German by John Oxenford )
“ It is time we pledged that our goal is to view universal humanity in universal literature by freeing ourselves from rustic uncatholicity”
Rabindrantha Tagore,1907, India.
( Translated from Bangla by Swapan Chakravorty )
“The objective of criticism should be to enrich literature by infusing national literature with the spirit of world literature”
Girija Sankar Ray, 1919, Odisha.
( Translated from Odia by Prof Jatindra Kumar Nayak )
About Us
The idea of World Literature was conceptualized by the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe who used it as a tool to resist and overcome the constructs of nationalism. This was further reinforced by the publication of The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, exactly after two decades of the pronouncement by Goethe. Further, the publication of the first journal of Comparative Literature under the editorship of Hugo Meltzl and Samuel Brassai , under the multilingual title, Összehasonlító Irodalomtörténelmi Lapok/ Acta Comparationis Litterarum Universarum, (1877) was an initiative to promote polyglottism in Comparative Literature and World Literature. Read More…..
Events
> UNESCO Chair Event
Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/live/JBC4IG5ZUnU?feature=share
> Radio Translation 17:
The Reception of Shakespeare in Odisha: A talk by Lipika Das published on Radio Translation, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellin, Columbia.
Research area: The Reception of World Literature in Odisha.
Link: https://radiotranslatio.com/episode/radio-translatio-17-shakespeare-in-odisha/
> Inaugural Session
Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuvDooGw2S8
Views
Congratulations for this excellent initiative of opening a Centre for the Study of World Literature in India. Your Centre is particularly relevant because you are focusing on four different areas of study: to promote the study of World Literature and that would lead to large translational activity; to look at World Literature from a regional perspective; to look at the reception of World Literature in Odiya that will open up various cross-cultural fields of study and an understanding of changes in the Odiya literary system; and finally, to look at conceptual issues that have gone into the notion of “World Literature” and inflect the same from your location. It is a challenging job, and you have all our best wishes as you begin the journey.
