A comparative history of the practices, technologies, institutions,
and people that created distinct literary traditions around the
world, from ancient to modern times Literature is such a familiar
and widespread form of imaginative expression today that its
existence can seem inevitable. But in fact very few languages ever
developed the full-fledged literary cultures we take for granted.
Challenging basic assumptions about literatures by uncovering both
the distinct and common factors that led to their improbable
invention, How Literatures Begin is a global, comparative history
of literary origins that spans the ancient and modern world and
stretches from Asia and Europe to Africa and the Americas. The book
brings together a group of leading literary historians to examine
the practices, technologies, institutions, and individuals that
created seventeen literary traditions: Chinese, Japanese, Korean,
Indian, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, English, Romance
languages, German, Russian, Latin American, African, African
American, and world literature. In these accessible accounts, which
are framed by general and section introductions and a conclusion by
the editors, literatures emerge as complex weaves of phenomena,
unique and deeply rooted in particular times and places but also
displaying surprising similarities. Again and again, new
literatures arise out of old, come into being through interactions
across national and linguistic borders, take inspiration from
translation and cultural cross-fertilization, and provide new ways
for groups to imagine themselves in relation to their moment in
history. Renewing our sense of wonder for the unlikely and strange
thing we call literature, How Literatures Begin offers fresh
opportunities for comparison between the individual traditions that
make up the rich mosaic of the world's literatures. The book is
organized in four sections, with seventeen literatures covered by
individual contributors: Part I: East and South Asia: Chinese
(Martin Kern), Japanese (Wiebke Denecke), Korean (Ksenia Chizhova),
and Indian (Sheldon Pollock); Part II: The Mediterranean: Greek
(Deborah Steiner), Latin (Joseph Farrell), Hebrew (Jacqueline
Vayntrub), Syriac (Alberto Rigolio), and Arabic (Gregor Schoeler);
Part III: European Vernaculars: English (Ingrid Nelson), Romance
languages (Simon Gaunt), German (Joel Lande), and Russian (Michael
Wachtel); Part IV: Modern Geographies: Latin American (Rolena
Adorno), African (Simon Gikandi), African American (Douglas Jones),
and world literature (Jane O. Newman).
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