Five Economies of World Literature

by Sandor Hites

Overview

Five Economies of World Literature is a comprehensive revision of nineteenth-century conceptualizations of 'world literature' in view of their intersections with economic thought. The book demonstrates that with a routinized identification of world literature as the cultural manifestation of modern capitalism, recent discussions have lost sight of an important historical and conceptual dynamic. Based on reinterpretations of the work of Goethe, Thomas Carlyle, Fichte, Hugó von Meltzl, and Marx, the chapters center on five economic notions (free trade, the gift, central planning, protectionism, and common ownership) that have shaped the theory and praxis of transnational exchange. At a time of profound reconfigurations in global political, cultural, and economic landscapes, this analysis deepens our historical understanding of cross-cultural encounters and also offers a better grasp of many of our current concerns about the globalization of cultural production and consumption.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781009654937
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/30/2025
Series:	Cambridge Studies in World Literature
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 1.50(h) x 9.50(d)

About the Author

Sándor Hites is the Senior Research Fellow at the HUN-REN Research Center for the Humanities, Institute of Literary Studies and has focused on the intersections of economy and literature and holds visiting fellowships at the University of London (2009) and the University of Edinburgh (2012), visiting professorships at Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj, Romania (2012–13) and the University of Toronto (2015–17).

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. World literature as free trade; 2. World literature as a gift economy; 3. World literature as a planned economy; 4. World literature and national protectionism; 5. World literature as a common good and the dialectics of property; Coda: toward a global political economy of world literature.