• Vernaculars in an Age of World Literatures, edited by Christina Kullberg and David Watson

    Author(s):
    Antony Hoyte-West (see profile)
    Date:
    2023
    Subject(s):
    Book reviews, Native language, Linguistic minorities, Literature
    Item Type:
    Book review
    Permanent URL:
    https://doi.org/10.17613/07e7-j776
    Abstract:
    In recent years, there has been a renewed focus on the role and visibility of smaller languages and their literatures in various domains. Indeed, in exemplifying burgeoning scholarly attention on literary production in less widely-spoken, minority, or historically disfavoured languages and dialects, the book reviewed here examines these demotic tongues through a global lens, locating analyses of their literary and sociocultural realities within the sphere of broader theoretical discussions. Vernaculars in an Age of World Literatures forms part of a quartet of interlinked volumes which comprise the Open Access series Cosmopolitan-Vernacular Dynamics in World Literatures. The series is edited by scholars based in Sweden who represent disciplines ranging from intellectual history to comparative literature and modern languages. Accordingly, the present volume opens with a general introduction, by Stefan Helgesson, Christina Kullberg, Paul Tenngart, and Helena Wulff, which is the same for all four books in the series. It takes Franco Moretti’s problematisation of world literature as a springboard, before presenting an overview of well-known aspects relating to global systems and the circulation of literary texts. By outlining the broad focus of the series in qualitative and interpretive terms, it centres on the ‘cosmopolitan-vernacular dynamic’, thus aiming to offer a methodological exploration of ‘the resonances and connection between widely diverse literary texts and cultures’ (xi). In this regard, the authors note ‘that the vernacular is always plural: not limited to language alone but comprising various types of expressions, material objects, people, and environments’ (xx).
    Notes:
    Hoyte-West, A. (2023). Vernaculars in an Age of World Literatures, edited by Christina Kullberg and David Watson. OCCT Review. https://occt.web.ox.ac.uk/occt-review
    Metadata:
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    Published as:
    Book review     Show details
    Publisher:
    OCCT Review
    Pub. Date:
    31 August 2023
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    3 months ago
    License:
    Attribution
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