Mapping Minor/Small and World Literatures : Periphery and Center

This anthology challenges prevailing notions of world literature by showcasing marginalized voices from diverse backgrounds and regions from the global north to the global south. It seeks to dismantle the dominance of Western-European-centered minor and small literature, fostering genuine literary biodiversity and ensuring more inclusive discourse.

Mapping Minor/Small and World Literatures: Periphery and Center makes a declarative intervention in debates about world literature, redefining the boundaries between the center and periphery to rejuvenate long-established assumptions about significance and insignificance. In this book, African American literature (emerging from the often overlooked pink periphery, a cramped space of minor literature), works from the Faroe Islands, Basque literature, First Nation Canadian literature, Western narratives about peripheral China, Kurdish literature, the ultraminor literary space of Antigua, the ''favela'' of Brazilian literature, as well as the hyperlocal narratives of Australian and New Zealand literature are all studied for their meaningful role within the world literary system. Additionally, working-class writing and the literary contributions of individuals on the margins of their own societies are given a voice, ensuring that the world literary space does not merely represent the perspectives of dominant elites. Unlike other descriptions of world literature, which have frequently allowed the grandeur and breadth of the global to overshadow the imperative for authentic literary biodiversity, this anthology, featuring contributions from diverse scholars representing various countries and backgrounds, actively deconstructs the structures of power and domination inherent in Western-European-centered world literature, minor literature, and small literature.