World Literature

Examine the topic of world literature, the definition of which has been subject to scholarly debate. The term was first used in 1827 by German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to refer to the dissemination of literature from and to countries around the world—in effect, a focus on the globalization of literature. Others consider world literature to be all the literature in the world, both past and present, as a counter to a nationalist approach to literature.

The study of world literature is a fairly new phenomena that developed primarily in the West, having taken hold in Western academia only recently. Well into the 20^th century, the study of literature in Western colleges and universities focused mainly on novels, short stories, plays, and poetry produced in the West—in other words, English literature that was considered part of an accepted canon. In the mid-20^th century, there was more acceptance of English-language titles produced in non-Western countries, such as works from English-speaking African writers. Translations of foreign-language works into English further generated interest in literature from other cultures.

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World Literature Resources

Gale provides scholarly resources, including world literature databases, primary source archives, and eBooks.

Databases

Gale databases offer researchers or teachers access to credible, up-to-date publications, including academic journals and scholarly journals for research or teaching.

Gale Literature: LitFinder

Provides access to literary works and secondary source materials covering world literature and writers throughout history. It includes more than 150,000 full-text literary works and over 800,000 poetry citations as well as short stories, speeches, and plays. Users can easily target the information they’re seeking with refined search options.

Gale Literature Resource Center

Gale Literature Resource Center is a research-focused, one-stop literary destination, providing students, academics, and researchers authoritative and relevant results on demand.

Contemporary Literary Criticism Online

For users seeking a deeper understanding of contemporary literature from the works of writers, novelists, philosophers, and political leaders from around the world.

Primary Source Archives

Gale Primary Sources offers world literature collections that include journals, periodicals, and articles that provide researchers with firsthand material.

The Making of the Modern World, Part I: The Goldsmiths’-Kress Library of Economic Literature, 1450‒1850

The Making of the Modern World, Part I: The Goldsmiths’-Kress Library of Economic Literature, 1450‒1850 is a core resource for scholars and students for its successive editions of works by preeminent thinkers and for its wealth of rare source materials covering the experience and consequences of world trade, exploration, and colonization of the New World; the Industrial Revolution; and the development of modern capitalism.

Nineteenth Century Collections Online: British Theatre, Music, and Literature

This collection includes receipts and archives from the Drury Lane Theatre; Royal Philharmonic Society music manuscripts; and the largely forgotten Wandering Minstrels archive, which opens a rare glimpse into the decades of Gilbert and Sullivan. The archive enables scholars to explore primary sources covering such topics as Victorian popular culture, street literature, social history, music, penny dreadfuls, professional acting on the London stage, the Royal Literary Fund, British dramatic works, and many others.

Nineteenth Century Collections Online: European Literature, the Corvey Collection, 1790–1840

This unique collection of monographs includes a wide range of Romantic literature published in English, French, and German. Sourced from Castle Corvey in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the Corvey Collection is one of the most important surviving collections of works from the period. With a special focus on these rare works, especially difficult-to-find works by lesser-known women writers, more than 9,500 titles are included.

Gale eBooks

Gale offers a variety of books covering a wide range of topics, including literary criticism and poetry criticism. Users can add Gale eBooks to a customized collection and cross-search to pinpoint relevant content. Workflow tools help users easily share, save, and download content.

African American Literature for Students

African American Literature for Students

Gale | 2020 | ISBN-13: 9780028666754

African American Literature for Students contains easily accessible and content-rich discussions of the literary and historical background of 14 works from various time periods. The works—not previously covered in any For Students series—are comprised of a variety of genres, including novels, poems, short stories, and dramas. The entries include works by frequently studied and well-established authors as well as by more contemporary, up-and-coming authors.

Each work was specially chosen by an advisory panel of teachers and librarians—experts who helped define the information needs of students and ensure the age-appropriateness of this content. Within the pages of African American Literature for Students, young researchers will discover everything they need to complete homework assignments and lead classroom discussions.

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Language and Society in the Greek and Roman Worlds, 1st Edition

Language and Society in the Greek and Roman Worlds, 1^st Edition

Gale | 2015 | ISBN-13: 9781316307984

Texts written in Latin, Greek, and other languages provide ancient historians with their primary evidence, but the role of language as a source for understanding the ancient world is often overlooked. Language played a key role in state formation and the spread of Christianity, the construction of ethnicity, and negotiating positions of social status and group membership. Language could reinforce social norms and shed light on taboos. This book presents ways in which linguistics can illuminate topics such as imperialism, ethnicity, social mobility, religion, gender, and sexuality in the ancient world, without assuming the reader has any knowledge of Greek or Latin, or of linguistic jargon. It describes the rise of Greek and Latin at the expense of other languages spoken around the Mediterranean, and details the social meanings of different styles and the attitudes of ancient speakers toward linguistic differences.

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World Literature In Spanish: An Encyclopedia, 1st Edition

World Literature In Spanish: An Encyclopedia, 1^st Edition

ABC-CLIO | 2012 | ISBN-13: 9780313080838

There are approximately 400 million native Spanish-speaking people worldwide. Due to the number of nations and different cultures across the globe that have used this language over the last millennium, Spanish-language literature is quite diverse, and is responsible for many significant and distinguished contributions to world civilization.

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