The material turn in comparative literature

C.A.W. Brillenburg Wurth (Guest editor), Jessica Pressman, Isobel Hofmeyr, John Zuern, Birgit Kaiser, sander van maas

Research output: Contribution to journalSpecial issueAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Comparative literature has traditionally been a field studying the interactions and entanglements between literatures from different languages and cultures. In this issue we argue that comparative literature needs to do and be more than that: it needs to engage in the comparison of literature as a cultural medium with other media and to take stock of the materality of that medium. We use the so called material or materiality turn in the humanities at large as a theoretical framework to reconfigure comparative literature into a field of comparative textual media, and present an inventory of different materialities of the literary (of language, the book, the paper page, code, the audio book) to present the methods and potentialities of that field.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-120
JournalComparative Literature
Volume70
Issue number3
Publication statusPublished - 2018

Keywords

  • materiality
  • comparative literature
  • comparative media
  • literary history
  • contemporary literature

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