The Meaning of World Literature

This paper is a study of the concept of World Literature from different perspectives. World Literature is closely associated with Comparative Literature, and in fact, provides the raw materials for the comparative researcher. Goethe, the great German intellectual and writer, is the first one who proposes the term in literary circles and persuades others to study World Literature. According to Goethe, literature does not have any geographical boundaries, and a literary man chooses his books according to aesthetic criteria. Hence, literary criticism has become international, and the best literary critics of National Literatures are not necessarily national critics. The writer, then, refers to excessive specialization in literary studies and considers it an obstacle on the way of appreciating the wholeness and the totality of literary' knowledge. An accurate and precise understanding of the concept of World Literature is the pre-requisite knowledge before launching any discussion of Comparative Literature theories.