Literature for Change
The Case for Literary Research Across Languages and Cultures
Distributed for University of London Press
Literature for Change
The Case for Literary Research Across Languages and Cultures
Highlighting efforts to address today’s most pressing social challenges through the study of texts in languages other than English.
Literature for Change examines how the study, production, circulation, and reception of literary texts in languages other than English contribute to addressing contemporary social challenges. Through eleven case studies across diverse languages and cultures, it analyzes the real-world impact of literary research, showing its relevance to sectors such as museums and heritage, the environmental and medical humanities, and the digital sphere. Combining hermeneutic and aesthetic approaches, the chapters demonstrate the value of varied methods, including theoretically grounded creative inquiry, and the connections between literary studies and other disciplines. The book affirms the importance of the field of modern languages and the continuing role of literary texts in shaping social and cultural life.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Charles Burdett, Joseph Ford, Godela Weiss-Sussex and Naomi Wells1 Ancient tales for troubled times: exploring cross-cultural encounters through storytelling and the visual arts
Rachel Scott2 Modern medieval languages: reading in and out of time
Sarah Bowden3 Spanish feminist networks: stories for today
Nuria Capdevila-Arguelles4 Using the past to save our future: modern languages and the heritage industry
Carol Tully5 Towards sustainable practices in the ‘post-museum’? post-object lessons from contemporary world literature
Emma Bond6 Place and planet: literary research in an age of ‘global challenges’
Nicola Thomas7 Literary studies and decolonial praxis
Emanuelle Santos8 Hungry for words: what literary research can do for the understanding of mental illness
Heike Bartel9 Reality, representation, resistance: a case study of an Arab cancer ethnodrama
Abir Hamdar10 Expanding horizons: reconsidering literary studies in the digital age
Reham Hosny11 Poetry versus Putin: challenging Russian myths of masculinity
Connor Doak