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August 22, 2025Open Access

The Future of Comparative and World Literature

Key Points

The article discusses the shift from world literature to a new epoch, emphasizing the relevance of comparative literature.
It highlights how only comparative literature can showcase the uniqueness of diverse literatures across the globe.
The text argues that literature still has a vital role in expanding knowledge and human discourse.
The discussion points to a need for comparative literature to adapt and thrive in the changing literary landscape.

Abstract

When Johann Wolfgang von Goethe coined the term ‘world literature’ ( Weltliteratur ) in 1831, he made it clear that this epoch had begun in his time and, like every epoch, would come to an end. This article is about the end of that epoch and the future of comparative literature in an era after the end of world literature. It is easy to see that we are now living in the era of world literatures. In a world in which, at first sight, literature counts for less and less, it must emphasize its unique selling point: it is the only form of human discourse that has actively expanded the realm of knowledge over several millennia. Only comparative literature, which draws on the most diverse literatures of the world, is able to bring this uniqueness into focus and highlight its social relevance.

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