Three Models of World Literature

Falk, M

Three Models of World Literature

Falk, M

Permalink

Publisher:: Routledge India
Publication Type:: Chapter
Citation:: Literary Cultures and Digital Humanities in India, 2022
Issue Date:: 2022

Open Access

Copyright Clearance Process

Recently Added
In Progress
Open Access

This item is open access.

The embargo period expires on 28 Jun 2024

Adobe PDF

Download Accepted versionAdobe PDF (311.94 kB)

View statistics

Full metadata record

Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Falk, M https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9261-8390
dc.contributor.editor	Zaidi, N
dc.contributor.editor	Pue, AS
dc.date.accessioned	2023-03-22T22:52:29Z
dc.date.available	2023-03-22T22:52:29Z
dc.date.issued	2022
dc.identifier.citation	Literary Cultures and Digital Humanities in India, 2022
dc.identifier.isbn	978-1-00-335424-6
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/168092
dc.description.abstract	In the early 2000s, digital literary studies took a new direction. For much of the 20th century, computational scholars had focussed on details, compiling exhaustive concordances of classic texts, densely tagged databases of stylistic examples, or comprehensive digital editions of famous writers. But in the 2000s, scholars acquired a new aspiration: to data mine the archive, and model world literature as a whole. In this chapter, I look back on these 20 years of effort, and take stock. What does it mean to “model” world literature? And how is such modelling affected by digital technology? I contrast three models of world literature: the canon, the cosmopolis, and the archive. In each case, I show how the particular model implies a certain research method, and then consider how that method may be assisted or transformed by digital technology. To conclude, I consider Kath Bode and Roopika Risam’s powerful materialist critiques of digital literary scholarship, and suggest that scholars should embrace orthogonality as the underlying principle of world literary history.
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	Routledge India
dc.relation.ispartof	Literary Cultures and Digital Humanities in India
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/embargoedAccess
dc.title	Three Models of World Literature
dc.type	Chapter
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences/Digital and Social Media
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
utslib.copyright.embargo	2024-06-28T00:00:00+1000Z
dc.date.updated	2023-03-22T22:52:28Z
pubs.place-of-publication	London
dc.location	London

Abstract:

In the early 2000s, digital literary studies took a new direction. For much of the 20th century, computational scholars had focussed on details, compiling exhaustive concordances of classic texts, densely tagged databases of stylistic examples, or comprehensive digital editions of famous writers. But in the 2000s, scholars acquired a new aspiration: to data mine the archive, and model world literature as a whole. In this chapter, I look back on these 20 years of effort, and take stock. What does it mean to “model” world literature? And how is such modelling affected by digital technology? I contrast three models of world literature: the canon, the cosmopolis, and the archive. In each case, I show how the particular model implies a certain research method, and then consider how that method may be assisted or transformed by digital technology. To conclude, I consider Kath Bode and Roopika Risam’s powerful materialist critiques of digital literary scholarship, and suggest that scholars should embrace orthogonality as the underlying principle of world literary history.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/168092