World Literature Definition?

Question: World Literature Definition!?

What would be a good definition of world literature!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

First thing you need to do: what early literary works are you supposed to draw from!? Do you have a class syllabus that lists some!? Off the top of my head, I would look at Odysseus in "The Odyssey", Antigone in "Antigone", and Achilles or Hector in "The Iliad"!. You could even use Jesus for this one!.

Next step: What attributes do your chosen literary heroes share!?!? Is it compassion, bravery, strength, wisdom, etc!? You can choose more than one trait here, as long as it can apply to each hero you discuss!. For example, "Heroism is comprised of an individual's ability to _____ and ______, as shown by the actions of ______, _______, and ________!.

Step Three: What is the Aristotleian definition!?!? Is it similar to or different than your own idea of what a hero is!?!? My personal idea of a hero is someone who does the right thing even when the temptation to do otherwise is very strong, or someone who is ruled by love rather than hate!. My own examples would be Frodo and Sam in Lord of the Rings, Melanie in Gone With The Wind, and Larry Underwood in The Stand!. You should work out what you think being a hero means to YOU, then talk about how that compares to what it meant to ARISTOTLE, then finally back up your position with some literary or film heroes that you identify with!.

Good Luck!!Www@QuestionHome@Com

World literature refers to literature from all over the world, including African literature, Arabic literature, American literature, Asian literature, European literature and Oceanian literature!.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe introduced the concept of Weltliteratur in 1827 to describe the growing availability of texts from other nations, including translations from Sanskrit, Islamic and Serbian epic poetry!. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels used the term in their Communist Manifesto (1848) to describe the "cosmopolitan character" of bourgeois literary production!.

Although anthologies of "world literature" have often used the term to market a largely European canon, the past three decades have given rise to a much more expansive conception of literary interest and value!. Recent books such as David Damrosch's What Is World Literature!?, for instance, define world literature as a category of literary production, publication and circulation, rather than using the term evaluatively!. Arguably, this is closer to the original sense of the term in Goethe and Marx!.

World literature is conceptually similar to world cinema, world art and world music!.

http://www!.dmoz!.org/Arts/Literature/Worl!.!.!.

http://www!.worldliteratureforum!.com/foru!.!.!.

http://www!.wordswithoutborders!.org/

http://students!.surrey!.sfu!.ca/arts/wlWww@QuestionHome@Com