American Literature As World Literature

For better or worse, America lives in the age of “worlded” literature. Not the world literature of nations and nationalities considered from most powerful and wealthy to the least. And not the world literature found with a map. Rather, the worlded literature of individuals crossing borders, mixing stories, and speaking in dialect. Where translation struggles to be effective and background is itself another story. The “worlded” literature of the multinational corporate publishing industry where the global market is all. The essays in this collection, from some of the most distinguished figures in American studies and literature, explore what it means to consider American literature as world literature.

Jeffrey R. Di Leo is Dean of Arts and Sciences and Professor of English and Philosophy at the University of Houston-Victoria, USA. His books include Higher Education under Late Capitalism: Identity, Conduct, and the Neoliberal Condition (2017), Dead Theory: Derrida, Death, and the Afterlife of Theory (Bloomsbury, 2016), Corporate Humanities in Higher Education: Moving Beyond the Neoliberal Academy (2014), and Turning the Page: Book Culture in the Digital Age (2013).