Gesine Müller - Böcker

With its new subtitle, Romance Literatures of the World, the book series mimesis presents an innovative and integral understanding of the Romance world and Romance Studies from the perspective of literary studies and cultural theory. It takes account of the fact that the fascinating development of Romance literatures and cultures both in Europe and beyond has set in motion worldwide dynamics which continue the great traditions of the Romance world and open up new horizons for them. mimesis works from a transareal understanding of Romance Studies which integrates Romance literatures and cultures both within and outside Europe and which transcends the national and disciplinary boundaries which often conceal the interactions between different traditions and developmentsin Europe and the Americas, in Africa and Asia. In the archipelago of Romance Studies, mimesis reveals how the representation of reality in the Romance literatures of the world opens the door to a multilingual cosmos of diverse logics.

The study examines cultural effects of various colonial systems of government in the Spanish- and French-speaking Caribbean in a little investigated period of transition: from the French Revolution to the abolition of slavery in Cuba (1789–1886). The comparison of cultural transfer processes by means of literary production from and about the Caribbean, embedded in a broader context of the circulation of culture and knowledge deciphers the different transculturations of European discourses in the colonies as well as the repercussions of these transculturations on the motherland’s ideas of the colonial other: The loss of a culturally binding centre in the case of the Spanish colonies – in contrast to France’s strong presence and binding force – is accompanied by a multirelationality which increasingly shapes hispanophone Caribbean literature and promotes the pursuit for political independence.The book provides necessary revision to the idea that the 19th-century Caribbean can only be understood as an outpost of the European metropolises. Examining the kaleidoscope of the colonial Caribbean opens new insights into the early processes of cultural globalisation and questions our established concept of a genuine western modernity. Updated and expanded translation of Die koloniale Karibik. Transferprozesse in hispanophonen und frankophonen Literaturen, De Gruyter (mimesis 53), 2012

How can we talk about World Literature if we do not actually examine the world as a whole? Research on World Literature commonly focuses on the dynamics of a western center and a southern periphery, ignoring the fact that numerous literary relationships exist beyond these established constellations of thinking and reading within the Global South. Re-Mapping World Literature suggests a different approach that aims to investigate new navigational tools that extend beyond the known poles and meridians of current literary maps. Using the example of Latin American literatures, this study provides innovative insights into the literary modeling of shared historical experiences, epistemological crosscurrents, and book market processes within the Global South which thus far have received scant attention. The contributions to this volume, from renowned scholars in the fields of World and Latin American literatures, assess travelling aesthetics and genres, processes of translation and circulation of literary works, as well as the complex epistemological entanglements and shared worldviews between Latin America, Africa and Asia. A timely book that embraces highly innovative perspectives, it will be a must-read for all scholars involved in the field of the global dimensions of literature.

From today’s vantage point it can be denied that the confidence in the abilities of globalism, mobility, and cosmopolitanism to illuminate cultural signification processes of our time has been severely shaken. In the face of this crisis, a key concept of this globalizing optimism as World Literature has been for the past twenty years necessarily is in the need of a comprehensive revision. World Literature, Cosmopolitanism, Globality: Beyond, Against, Post, Otherwise offers a wide range of contributions approaching the blind spots of the globally oriented Humanities for phenomena that in one way or another have gone beyond the discourses, aesthetics, and political positions of liberal cosmopolitanism and neoliberal globalization. Departing basically (but not exclusively) from different examples of Latin American literatures and cultures in globalized contexts, this volume provides innovative insights into critical readings of World Literature and its related conceptualizations. A timely book that embraces highly innovative perspectives, it will be a mustread for all scholars involved in the field of the global dimensions of literature.

From the perspective of Latin American Studies, this volume offers a critical contribution to the current debate on world literature. It is structured around three conceptual blocks: "gatekeepers", as the dispositives and actors mediating the international circulation of literature; "translation", as an unavoidable but always problematic mechanism; and "local literatures", as modes of writing that remain intrinsically tied to their contexts.

As its title indicates, the book series "Latin American Literatures in the World" presents an innovative understanding of literatures written in Latin America and the Caribbean. Informed by current perspectives on world literary studies and cultural theory, the series focuses on works that deal with the multiple global connections of Latin American literatures. This comprises determined aesthetics and forms of writing, as well as book-market-related phenomena of the worldwide reception and circulation of these literatures. Understanding Latin American literature’s transnational orientation as its essential feature, the series seeks to provide new perspectives on the global entanglements of Latin America. A special emphasis is placed on works that consider relations and exchanges with Asia, Africa and other world regions beyond the traditional transatlantic focus. Como su título lo indica, la serie "Literaturas latinoamericanas en el mundo" representa un entendimiento innovador de las literaturas concebidas como latinoamericanas y caribeñas. A partir de postulados actuales de los estudios de la literatura mundial y la teoría cultural, la serie se centra en trabajos que investigan las múltiples conexiones globales de las literaturas latinoamericanas. Este enfoque comprende tanto la transferencia de determinadas estéticas y escrituras al igual que fenómenos de mercado, de recepción y puesta en circulación internacionales. En base a la orientación transnacional de las literaturas latinoamericanas como una de sus características fundamentales, la serie busca promover abordajes críticos e innovadores sobre esos entrelazamientos globales de América Latina. Un interés particular consiste en los trabajos que investigan los intercambios con Asia, África y otras regiones del mundo más allá del tradicional enfoque transatlántico. Series editor / directora: Gesine Müller, Universität zu Köln Advisory board / consejo científico: Ana Gallego, Universidad de Granada Gustavo Guerrero, CY Cergy Paris University Héctor Hoyos, Stanford University Benjamin Loy, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Ignacio Sánchez Prado, Washington University in St. Louis Mariano Siskind, Harvard University Patricia Trujillo, Universidad Nacional de Colombia

The debate over the concept of world literature, which has been taking place with renewed intensity over the last twenty years, is tightly bound up with the issues of global interconnectedness in a polycentric world. Most recently, critiques of globalization-related conceptualizations, in particular, have made themselves heard: to what extent is the concept of world literature too closely connected with the political and economic dynamics of globalization? Such questions cannot be answered simply through theoretical debate. The material side of the production of world literature must therefore be more strongly integrated into the conversation than it has been. Using the example of Latin American literatures, this volume demonstrates the concrete construction processes of world literature. To that purpose, archival materials have been analyzed here: notes, travel reports, and correspondence between publishers and authors. The Latin American examples provide particularly rich information about the processes of institutionalization in the Western world, as well as new perspectives for a contemporary mapping of world literature beyond the established dynamics of canonization.

Phenomena such as the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, or the surge of political populism show that the current phase of accelerated globalization is over. New concepts are needed in order to respond to this exhaustion of the global project: the volume scrutinizes these responses in the aesthetic realm and under a "post-global" banner, while incorporating alternative, non-Western epistemologies and literatures of the post-colonial Global South.

El volumen analiza las implicaciones del concepto world exhaustion/agotamiento del mundo, que ha surgido en un contexto cultural post-global y cuyos efectos son particularmente destacados en las literaturas y culturas latinoamericanas. El término conceptual se adecua a la ambivalencia de las experiencias vividas por sociedades marcadas por siglos de globalización y a la producción artística que busca dar forma y sentido a estas experiencias.

Phenomena such as the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, or the surge of political populism show that the current phase of accelerated globalization is over. New concepts are needed in order to respond to this exhaustion of the global project: the volume scrutinizes these responses in the aesthetic realm and under a "post-global" banner, while incorporating alternative, non-Western epistemologies and literatures of the post-colonial Global South.