Focusing on the evolution of epistolary fiction from the Renaissance to the mid-nineteenth century, this work examines how the genre leveraged the significance of letter writing. It delves into various themes such as letter writing manuals, gender dynamics, and self-referential letters. The author highlights contributions from notable writers like Austen, Balzac, and Dostoevsky, while also providing a bibliography of key European epistolary works up to 1850, showcasing the genre's rich historical context and influence.
The book delves into the evolution of epistolary fiction in Europe, tracing its significance from the Renaissance through the nineteenth century. It examines how letters as a narrative form shaped literary expression and influenced societal perspectives during these periods. Through various examples, the text highlights the genre's impact on character development, plot progression, and the exploration of personal and cultural themes.
Focusing on the theme of translation, this study explores modern and contemporary literary works from various cultures, examining how they address complex issues such as language as embodiment, the concept of unknown languages, conversion, and postcolonial interpretations. The analysis highlights the intricate relationship between language and identity, revealing how these themes resonate across diverse narratives globally.
Among Western literatures, only the German-speaking countries can boast a list of world-class writers such as Goethe, Hoffmann, Kleist, Kafka, Schmitt, and Schlink who were trained as legal scholars. Yet this list only hints at the complex interactions between German law and literature. It can be supplemented, for example, with the unique interventions of the legal system into literature, ranging from attempts to save literature from the tidal wave of Schund (pulp fiction) in the early twentieth century to audiences suing theaters over the improper production of classics in the twenty-first. The long list of instances where German literature cites law, or where German law serves literature as a precedent, signal the dream of German culture of a unity of interests and objectives between spheres of activity. Yet the very vitality of this dream stems from real historical and social processes that increasingly autonomize and separate these domains from each other. Beebee examines the history of this dialectical tension through close readings of numerous cases in the modern era, ranging from Grimm to Schmitt.
This collection explores the international dimensions of German literature, featuring nine contributors who address a broad historical range with diverse approaches and authors. The essays collectively begin to outline the systematic relations between German national literature and world literature, shaped by institutions, cultural networks, and individual authors. In recent years, world literature—defined as literature that resonates beyond its original linguistic and cultural contexts—has gained prominence in theoretical discussions. The rise of world literature theory, pedagogy, and methodology stems from the challenges of conducting world literature criticism and history. The complexity, polylingual, and multicultural aspects of world literature pose significant obstacles, necessitating a collaborative approach that integrates various expertise. This collection aims to enhance the critical study of world literature in its textual, institutional, and translational contexts, while also addressing a previously underexplored question: the relationship between national and world literatures, specifically how national literatures systematically engage with or resist world literature.
