China – Brazil

globalization, new world literature and “world competence”

Abstract

The concept of “Weltliteratur”, originally translated as “universal literature”, but today mainly translated as “world literature”, was coined at the end of the 18th century and became a relevant term through J. W. Goethe. On the one hand, it competes with the concept of national literature, but at the same time it also Indicates a policy according to which national literatures become “world literatures”, i.e. receive “world competence”. This depends both on their International reception, which is now global, and on the horizon In which they are written. Although the Internationalization of literature In the 18th and 19th centuries was almost exclusively determined by European literatures, a decisive change became evident In the second half of the 20th century. Today, the economic and cultural reorganization of the world, characterized mainly by decolonization and the Global South – which largely Includes the BRICS countries – presents a new challenge to transform these national literatures Into world literatures with a “world competence”. The article argues that literature In its capacity as world literature should still be considered a relevant means of promoting “world competence” among its readers, especially under the conditions In which culturally significant actors enter the world literature scene.