Meanings
- uncountableeducationComparative literature.
- uncommonuncountableThe world's national literature collectively, especially the circulation and appreciation of works beyond their country of origin.
Goethe's notion of world literature, therefore, is linked in an important way to the internationalization of culture that resulted from the emergence of capitalism as the dominant mode of production in modern Europe.
2008, P. Bayapa Reddy, editor, Aspects of Contemporary World Literature, Atlantic Publishers, →ISBN, page 52 more examples
In 1827, fresh from his reading of a Chinese novel, Goethe pronounced to Eckermann that "national literature is now a rather unmeaning term; the epoch of world literature is at hand, and everyone must strive to hasten its approach.
2009 April 17, Pankaj Mishra, “Author, author: The world of ‘world’ literature”, in The GuardianIf cosmopolitanism and world literature are so closely related, to the point where one may wonder whether “cosmopolitan literature” is synonymous with “world literature” […] a question that needs to be answered is why the concept of cosmopolitanism plays such a minor role in world literature discussions.
2011, Theo D'haen, David Damrosch, Djelal Kadir, editors, The Routledge Companion to World Literature, Routledge, →ISBN, page 244
Synonyms & antonyms
Cite this entry
world literature. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/world%20literature
“world literature.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/world%20literature. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “world literature,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/world%20literature.
Source: world literature on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.