Literature and the Experience of Globalization

Svend Erik Larsen is Professor Emeritus at Aarhus University, Denmark, Yangtze River Professor at Sichuan University, China, and Honorary Professor at University College London, UK. His previous books include, as co-author, Signs in Use: An Introduction to Semiotics (2002).

• Foreword: A Cultural Duck-Billed PlatypusPart 1: Globalization in a Literary Perspective1. The Breathing of Culture2. Globalization as Everyday Life3. Literature as a Challenge to Globalization4. Knowledge as Creative Lying5. Mediated Presentations of RealityPart 2: Literature in the Global Perspective6. Memories for the Future7. The Creative Dynamics of Translation8. Embodied Worlds9. Travelling Places10. On the MoveConclusion: World Literature or Literature Around the World?Afterword: The Story of the Duck-Billed PlatypusFurther ReadingWorks CitedIndex

[Larsen] makes interesting and useful parallels between past and present, and his examples are often odd and refreshing ... he makes history come alive in relation to literature, with an appealing mix of fact and analysis that creates a pleasant read that avoids the obscurantism too common in academic works ... Larsen demonstrates an unwavering voice of passion for global literatures that is contagious in the reader, with plain language for complex ideas that suggests a gifted professor, and overall I would recommend this book.