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12 - Saving Europe through Weltliteratur: The Case of Victor Klemperer

from Part II - Thinking the World

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2021

By
Theo D’haen
Edited by
Debjani Ganguly
Debjani Ganguly
Affiliation:
University of Virginia
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Summary

The overwhelming majority of works on world literature hitherto have been written by Western scholars. The almost endemic neglect of literatures other than European or Western in these writings over the last twenty years or so has drawn heavy critical fire. Usually, such Eurocentrism has been seen as the result of either ignorance on the part of these scholars or on an ingrained cultural bias. However, a deliberate concentration on European literature, or even on a very restricted version of the latter, may also be a strategic choice in particular times and under particular circumstances. A 1929 essay by the German literary scholar Victor Klemperer illustrates my point.

Keywords

Viktor Klempererworld literatureEuropean literatureGerman literatureEurocentrism
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of World Literature , pp. 246 - 260
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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