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September 17, 2025

An Eastern Account of Goethe’s World Literature

BBByron Byrne-TaylorUniversity College London

Key Points

Goethe's world literature concept is often critiqued for being euro-centric, yet it draws from Eastern influences.
The Soviet world literature project has paralleled Western literary modernism since 1918, broadening literary perspectives.
The essay traces the reception of Goethe’s world literature from China through Germany to Russia, emphasizing its Eastern roots.
An exploration of Goethe’s Weltliteratur reveals an underappreciated complexity in its cross-cultural connections.

Abstract

Abstract Goethe’s notion of “a coming world literature” continues to extend its institutional vitality, yet it is broadly critiqued as “euro-centric” at its core. As this essay shows, his notion is largely inspired by Eastern sources, represented here by Chinese and Russian literary networks. Much less attention, meanwhile, has been paid to the Soviet world literature (vsemirnaia literatura) project, which from its start in 1918 paralleled literary modernism (as periodized in Western discourse). The present account follows Goethe’s Weltliteratur (world literature) in its reception of, and reception in, the East. It offers an Eastern account of Goethe’s translation and reception, running from China to Germany to Russia up to the Russian Revolution.

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