Taming World Literature

Taming World Literature is a special issue of Interlitteraria, a tribute to the journal's founder and editor-in-chief Professor Juri Talvet on the occasion of his 70th birthday and the 35th anniversary of the discipline of World Literature at the University of Tartu. The notions of World Literature and Comparative Literature are not always perceived as synonymous. These two disciplines can be viewed as complementary, or even as opposing or incompatible concepts. The various definitions reflect the diversity of a discipline that deals with literary traditions and practice that transcend one particular monolingual culture in its local space. The variety is due to the fact that even the broadest view, taking in the world in its great complexity, is always dependent on a vantage point. To better understand different vantage points and the various meanings of our discipline, scholars from diverse academic and cultural backgrounds were invited to reflect upon world literature and comparative literature in this celebratory volume.