Beskrivelse
This elective introduces students to the study of world literature from different regions (e.g. Scandinavia, Europe, UK, US, Africa, Caribbean). World literature is often understood as a literature that gains value from translation, which is something this course will explore by combining several national literatures in one course. World literature is also a literature tied to certain ‘worldy’ themes of profound importance today, such as climate change, migration, demography, inequality, AI, health etc. And world literature is also intimately related to certain functions of both aiming to facilitate and to problematize intercultural understanding and communication. To read the literature of many different regions is to gain a deep and special knowledge of their cultural differences and similarities. The course stimulates students to work theoretically and practically with using literature to enlarge their imaginations and examine global cultural differences and similarities to facilitate intercultural understanding and envision social transformation.Content of the current semester
In this course we close read great literary texts by many very different writers from different parts of the world such as for example Hans Christian Andersen, Milan Kundera, Guy Gunaratne, Zadie Smith, Toni Morrison, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, David Dabydeen. The course begins with introductions to the contested field of studies in ‘world literature’ and the much-debated idea of ’using’ literature to, for instance, gain insight into other minds and cultures and to conceive of possible solutions to problems facing the world today as thematised by the works we teach: e.g. climate, migration, demographic transition, inequality, health. World literature is always also a literature in the world where it makes a difference by virtue of its literary form and sense of ambivalence and conflict and ability to translate between cultures. Then follows cases from the different regions where we analyse literary texts emphasising how they illuminate and may contribute to solve societal challenges. Focus will be contemporary works in different genres and with a diverse choice of authors writing in or translated into English.
Experts in different national literatures will present cases of those different literatures ‘as world literature’ and discuss how reading a given author or group of authors as world literature makes a difference. Cases for such study may include Hans Christian Andersen, Milan Kundera, Guy Gunaratne, Zadie Smith, Toni Morrison, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, David Dabydeen.