Corine Jasper D.

Caracas

2012-60281

Eng 12 WFU
Aquarium
In studying world literature, the first question that comes to mind is what is world
literature and what works can be considered as world literature? To answer the question we
must first ask what literature is.
In the first reading given to us, the author tried to answer what literature is and ended up
looking for things that differentiate literary works from non-literary works. It was complicated
seeing as to how some of the defining characteristics of literary works also exist in some nonliterary works. During the class discussions, it was concluded that literature is a valued form of
writing. It is something that is accepted and taught in the classroom. Furthermore, these works
are given value or are deemed to be literature by institutions that have power like a school or the
government.
This meaning of literature is then considered in defining world literature. David
Damrosch wrote a book about world literature and the class was able to read excerpts from it. In
the excerpt, he enumerated three things which define world literature (Damrosch 2003);
1. World literature is an elliptical refraction of national literatures
2. World literature is writing that gains in translation and
3. World literature is not a set canon of texts but a mode of reading.
The first definition is my topic of interest since it relates world literature to national literature.
Before moving further, we look at how national literature is defined.
National literature also has complicated definitions like literature and world literature.
But here I am going to use Alain Richards definition in her work, Museum, Mausoleum or
Market: The Concept of National Literature. According to her national literature can be defined
in three different ways;
1. It can be a statement of a fact: a national literature is a collection of texts;

2. It can be a pragmatic utterance, more precisely a prescriptive one describing what the
literature of the so-called nation has to be; and
3. A tool in the analysis of the relationships between society and literature.
As we can observe the second meaning is quite similar to the definition of literature earlier.
Now that we have defined the literature, world literature and national literature, we focus
on world literature. During the whole semester, we have read excerpts from works that are
considered world literature. And through reading and talking about these works, I slowly
understand the definitions that Damrosch gave. His first point is that world literature is an
elliptical refraction of national literatures where the receiving country and the source country
serve as foci. According to the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary, refraction may be the action
of distorting an image by viewing through a medium. For me this is what Damrosch meant in his
first point. As a national literature from a certain country like Spain reaches a different country,
the image at which the foreigners see it is different from what the Spaniards see since the
foreigners will read it or see it in relation to the culture and traditions they have in their country
but at the same time this image is not completely different since it still keeps its identity as a
Spanish work and carries with it some of the cultures and traditions of its home country. This is
also because national literature can be used as something that identifies the Spanish society. A
work, as it goes to a different country does not just depend on the norm of its home country. It
also depends on whichever new country it reaches. An example of this is The Ingenious
Gentleman Don Quixote de la Mancha. Don Quixote has been recognized as a national literature
because of its immediate success in Spain and on how it included a parts of Spains history into
the story. It is also considered relevant in Spain because of the way Don Quixote somehow
parallels what happened to Spain after the so-called crisis of 1898 where it recognized that it is
not the same glorious country like it was before. Don Quixote showcased this by being part of a
society (knights) that is losing its fame and glory during Don Quixotes time. (Robert 2007).
Over time Don Quixote has been translated into many different languages which leads to
Damroschs second point. Don Quixote is an example of a work that gains in translation. After
The Bible, Don Quixote is the second most translated work in the world. This means that despite
translations, Don Quixote became something that a lot of people from other countries value. And
that these people study and analyze this book in their own countries. But according to the

classroom discussions and to Damrosch, world literature is not just a set of texts but a way of
reading. One can read Don Quixote and appreciate the way it is written, learn a little bit about
Spain but at the same time compare it with what you experience in his/her own country.
Don Quixote has remained both a part of Spains national literature and a world literature
because of its relevance in Spain and how until now this novel is still being taught in schools in
different countries worldwide. It is given value not only by the people from its origin but also by
institutions from all over the world.
As for world literature as a whole, whatever judgement you give to the work will always
be influenced by your own culture and traditions. And for me reading world literature is like
looking at the fish inside an aquarium. You see an image of them that is the same at what they
really look like but you know that what you see is not the actual thing but a refracted image of
what it really is.

Bibliography

Bayliss, Robert. "What Don Quixote Means (Today)." Comparative Literature Studies
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Ricard, Alain. "Museum, Mausoleum, or Market: The Concept of National Literature."
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