Category Archives: Comparative Literature
A Life-Changing Encounter with Bulgarian Literature
Guest post by Dimitar Kambourov I embarked on the project of compiling and editing Bulgarian Literature as World Literature for various reasons. Some of them – like increasing the visibility of Bulgarian literature and provoking curiosity about it worldwide – were uninspiringly important. Others happened to be a continuation of my life-long endeavor to read… Read More »
Thinking Elsewhere: A Response to Sonita Sarker by Way of Some Notes on Universality
The first thing to note about Sonita Sarker’s essay is that it offers a necessary challenge to and reorientation of the various definitions of responsible reading that appear throughout this volume. Responsible reading can and should take on any number of meanings, even contradictory meanings, in the chapters that appear here. But what responsible reading should never suggest is a “mandatory curriculum” that becomes a burden that the reader “does not ask to carry but becomes hers to bear.”
Life matters in Antonin Artaud’s writings
Why we are addicted to narrative?
From government briefings to quirky “human interest” stories and double-blind Pub Med studies, narrative in all its multifarious forms is what we resort to, promising in various measure, consolation and comprehension. But we rarely ask why. Why we are addicted to narrative in the first place. Why our minds work this way.
Preparing to Explore Weird Fiction in Lovecraft Country
Based on a novel by the same name, Lovecraft Country is a drama-horror series set to premiere on HBO this weekend. The story will take you back to the 1950s as you follow Atticus Black (Jonathan Majors), his friend Letitia (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), and his Uncle George (Courtney B. Vance) through Jim Crow America in search of Atticus’s missing father (Michael Kenneth Williams). But as the characters embark on an unexpected road trip, they encounter a… Read More »
Explorations in Science and Literature
We’re announcing a new series! Guest post by Anton Kirchhofer, Janine Rogers, and John Holmes In the twentieth century, a powerful myth arose that science and technology could solve humanity’s problems. New materials like plastics, new drugs, new computational and information technologies, would transform our world, creating a cleaner, brighter, healthier and more equal future. In some… Read More »
On being my own research subject
Guest post by Angelika Bammer My undergraduate students still regularly ask me if it’s ok to use “I” in their essays. When I assure them that it’s not just ok, but a way of acknowledging their own stakes in their argument or the questions they set out to explore, it’s like giving thirsty hikers water.… Read More »
Revisiting National Literatures in the 21st Century
Guest post by Christian Moraru Romanian Literature as World Literature is an essay collection the contributions to which were workshopped at the first edition of the Paltinis Critical Theory Institute, outside the city of Sibiu, Romania, in October 2015, and then coedited by Professor Mircea Martin, Professor Terian, and myself. A world premiere, the book… Read More »
Black comics, electronic literature, religious poetry and more: Spring review highlights
Check out some recent reviews of Bloomsbury books and find your next read! Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation “The long-anticipated “Black Panther” film debuted in theaters on Feb. 17, and the response from critics and fans has been overwhelmingly positive. The movie earned $387 million in its opening weekend, which makes it the highest-grossing… Read More »