The strategic moves of paratexts: World literature through Swedish eyes

The term “world literature” is used in a wide range of different ways. This article analyses the meanings the term receives through particular discursive practices of Swedish publishers that specialize in translated literature from Africa, Asia and Latin America. It demonstrates that Swedish publishers mediate literature from these regions using two complementary strategic moves: an emphasis on geography (cultural difference and culture-specific learning) and an emphasis on universalism. Both presentation strategies are Eurocentric, the first because it implies that a translated work of fiction is there to offer Europeans transparent information about the culture where the book was written, and the second because it downplays actual cultural differences. In addition, both strategies are Eurocentric in that they materially bring together (in anthologies and publishers’ lists) texts that have no other relationship except being from the South.