Universidad Complutense de Madrid

In recent years comparative literature is experiencing a momentous change. For some scholars it is even a paradigm change, the result of a renewed interest in world literature. This interest is obviously related to one of the key concepts of our times. Globalization is not an illusion. The impact of economy and media show that it is a real experience for citizens all over the world. And yet, in contrast to apocalyptic dictums on pervading cultural homogenization, the effects of globalization are uneven. A new diversity is emerging. According to Roland Robertson, glocalization is the outcome of local conditions toward global pressures. Accordingly, world literature should be read as seen from specific locations.

 

The aim of the international seminar World Literature: A View from Glocal Spanishes is to approach world literature from a world-language (Spanish/es), spoken by more than 329 million speakers as their first language, and by more than 70 million as their second language in more than 50 countries.

 

In contrast to the traditional genealogy for world literature—Goethe’s Weltliteratur—it is worth reminding that the South had its own scholars who advocated the emergence of a world literature, such as the Spanish Jesuit Juan Andrés, who between 1782 and 1799 wrote a history of world literature—Dell’origine, progressi e stato attuale d’ogni letteratura. This history soon became the textbook for the first chairs of world literature in Europe, located in the Real Colegio de San Isidro, Madrid and the Universidad de Valencia. Both Herder and Goethe were well aware of Andrés’ being the most important scholar of their times and so were willing to visit him in their travels to Italy.

 

From Juan Andrés onwards, world literature has attracted the attention of critics in the Spanish-speaking world, from Guillermo de Torre and Claudio Guillén to the scholars who contributed to the book edited by Ignacio M. Sánchez-Prado (América Latina en la “literatura mundial”), the special issues of Ínsula: Revista de Letras y Ciencias Sociales (nº 788-789) and 1616: Anuario de Literatura comparada (nº 2).

 

World Literature: A View from Glocal Spanishes is a step further in this direction. It will discuss the construct of world literature from the perspective of language variations—Spanish/es— and of translation studies. Whereas interpretation antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature. Imperial expansion owes much to the consolidation of print culture and translation. The contemporary discussion on world literature is built upon de premise of global circulation of literary works and, thus, on global translation. However, this discussion cannot ignore that print culture is no longer the only way through which literature circulates nowadays, and that the book competes with e-readers and touch-screen tablets. Thus, alongside issues of language variations and glocalization, the seminar inquires into the need (or not) to incorporate the concept of medium and its variability, into the studies on translation and world literature.

 

This seminar is co-organized by César Domínguez (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela) & Asunción López-Varela Azcárate (Universidad Complutense de Madrid).

 

This international seminar is sponsored by the Jean Monnet Chair "The Culture of European Integration" (European Comission, nº 528689).