and will be reading Franco Moretti’s “Conjecture on World Literature.” Franco Moretti is an Italian literary scholar whose work focuses on the history of the novel as a “planetary form.” We are taking a closer look at how more contemporary scholars try to define world literature. Moretti’s work has been praised and also criticized (remember, I have said and say again that there are no right or wrong answers; scholars try their best. We can expect a multitude of viewpoints and opinions.) The article is a summary of a book he published; for this reason, you will find that there is a lot of information packed in a few pages. You may wish to read this a few times before answering the questions.
The assignment this week is to answer the following questions which all relate to the text you will be reading:
1. Why, according to Moretti, is world literature “a problem that asks for a new . . . method”?
2. What is “distant reading”?
3. Why is “close reading” a problem?
4. What is Moretti’s theory of the law of literary evolution and how does he ‘test’ his theory?
5. Why does the study of world literature have to yield to the specialist of the national literature at some point or other?
6. What did the metaphors of the tree and the wave accomplish. What do they have in common? How are they different?
7. Which controversy, according to Moretti, cannot be resolved?
8. Do you see yourself as a tree or a wave person? How/Why? Provide your answer with world literature in mind.
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