French Literature Reviews - 2026

A. Gnisci, F. Sinopoli, N. Moll, World Literature in the 21st Century
Literary Theory, Linguistics and Stylistics

World Literature in the 21st Century,

Bruno Mondadori, "Letteratura" collection, 2010.

Armando Gnisci, Franca Sinopoli, Nora Moll

The concept of world literature, introduced by Goethe in the early decades of the 19th century and conceptualized by him under the term Weltliteratur, taken up by Marx and Engels in the Communist Manifesto of 1848, and subsequently integrated into literary discourse to the point of becoming a cliché, is addressed here for the first time with the aim not of defining it, but of reconstructing and illustrating its history. The poetics and studies of decolonization, the global phenomenon of the literature of diasporas, exile, and the contemporary Great Migration, and the vast volume of literary translations from and into numerous languages are the pathways that, in the authors' view, must be considered to understand the meaning of our time and the globality that is finally realized within it, albeit amidst unpredictable contradictions.

CONTENTS

1. What do we talk about when we talk about world literature in 2010?
by Armando Gnisci
• Global consciousness in Europe after the Second World War
• World literary consciousness, European responsibility, and national critical consciousness
• The literary world that is ours

2. From literary universalism to current forms
of literary globality
by Franca Sinopoli
• A modern category of critical-literary thought
• Literary universalism: the origins
• Literary internationalism: world literature and European literature
• World literature and the global market
• The globality of literature in the twentieth century: the library and the canon
• The lines of international debate today. The return of “world literature”

3. Intercultural studies and global imaginaries
by Nora Moll
• World literature and interculturality
• Workshops on intercultural poetics and theory
• Twentieth-century Italian global imaginaries: the case of Africa

Tracing the trajectory of a critical category first envisioned by Goethe and later expanded by Marx and Engels, this volume examines how the notion of Weltliteratur has evolved from nineteenth-century universalism into contemporary literary globality. Rather than offering a rigid definition, the authors reconstruct its intellectual history through interconnected pathways, including the legacy of decolonization, the realities of diasporic and exiled writing, and the extensive circulation of translated texts. The book situates these phenomena within the complex cultural dynamics of our time, highlighting the tensions and contradictions inherent in a truly globalized literary landscape.

Across three structured sections, the contributors address the theoretical and historical dimensions of the field, making the work a valuable resource for students and scholars of comparative literature, cultural studies, and modern intellectual history. It engages with pressing debates surrounding canons, international markets, and intercultural poetics, while offering specific insights into European critical consciousness and twentieth-century Italian global imaginaries. By connecting past traditions with present realities, the study provides essential tools for understanding how literature reflects and shapes our interconnected world.