Five Economies of World Literature

Breaks new ground in the study of world literature by analysing the genesis of this concept in the context of early European political economy. Addressing readers interested in comparative literature, intellectual history, or economic thought, useful for any university course dealing with the theory and praxis of global cultural exchanges.

Five Economies of World Literature is a comprehensive revision of nineteenth-century conceptualizations of 'world literature' in view of their intersections with economic thought. The book demonstrates that with a routinized identification of world literature as the cultural manifestation of modern capitalism, recent discussions have lost sight of an important historical and conceptual dynamic. Based on reinterpretations of the work of Goethe, Thomas Carlyle, Fichte, Hugó von Meltzl, and Marx, the chapters center on five economic notions (free trade, the gift, central planning, protectionism, and common ownership) that have shaped the theory and praxis of transnational exchange. At a time of profound reconfigurations in global political, cultural, and economic landscapes, this analysis deepens our historical understanding of cross-cultural encounters and also offers a better grasp of many of our current concerns about the globalization of cultural production and consumption.