Full Description
Do the notions of "World Lingua Franca" and "World Literature" now need to be firmly relegated to an imperialist-cum-colonialist past? Or can they be rehabilitated in a practical and equitable way that fully endorses a politics of recognition? For scholars in the field of languages and literatures, this is the central dilemma to be faced in a world that is increasingly globalized. In this book, the possible banes and benefits of globalization are illuminated from many different viewpoints by scholars based in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania. Among their more particular topics of discussion are: language spread, language hegemony, and language conservation; literary canons, literature and identity, and literary anthologies; and the bearing of the new communication technologies on languages and literatures alike. Throughout the book, however, the most frequently explored opposition is between languages or literatures perceived as "major" and others perceived as "minor", two terms which are sometimes qualitative in connotation, sometimes quantitative, and sometimes both at once, depending on who is using them and with reference to what.
Contents
1. Series editor's preface; 2. Acknowledgement; 3. Contributors; 4. Introduction (by D'haen, Theo); 5. Languages; 6. The "Minor Language" Perspective (by Dahl, Osten); 7. The Language Milieu of the Old Order Amish: Preserving Pennsylvania Deitsch (by Jansson, Johanna); 8. English - The Last Lingua franca? (by Ostler, Nicholas); 9. National Identities and the Latin Language in Hungary and Croatia: Language Conflicts, 1784-1848 (by Subaric, Lav); 10. Error and Innovation in Postcolonial Composition: The Implications of World Englishes (by Huddart, David); 11. Cultivating Learners' Intellectual Growth and Conceptual Thinking Skills through Selected Literary Works: A Strategic Approach to Writing Development in English (by Srisermbhok, Amporn); 12. Theoretical Considerations: Language, Culture, and Literature; 13. Critical Glissantism: Edouard Glissant's Views on Language(s) (by Gyssels, Kathleen); 14. Decolonizing World Literature (by Youssef, Magdi); 15. Minor and Major Readings Across Cultures (by Strandberg, Lotta); 16. From Black Athena to Black Dionysus and Beyond?: African Adaptations of Greek Tragedy (by Weyenberg, Astrid van); 17. From Minor Genre to Major Genre: Crime Fiction and Autofiction (by Ferreira-Meyers, Karen); 18. World Literature / World culture?: TV Series and Video Games (by Andre, Sylvie); 19. Literatures; 20. Small Presses and the Globalization of Poetry (by Brito, Manuel); 21. Between "Minor" and "Major" Literatures: The Case of Polish Literature (by Skwara, Marta A.); 22. "The world at large ... is only an expanded homeland.": From Goethe's idea of world literature to contemporary migration literature (by Eilitta, Leena); 23. Who is the Other? Goethe's encounter with "China" in his Concept of Weltliteratur (by Chen, Yi); 24. "Major" and "Minor" literatures: Indian cases (by Bharat, Meenakshi); 25. A "minor" language in a "major" literature: Contemporary Irish literature (by Symington, Miceala); 26. Index
