Dutch and Flemish Literature as World Literature

This compendious collection opens out the varied landscape of literature in Dutch from the Middle Ages to the present, with illuminating essays on writers who were at once hemmed in by the surrounding major powers and deeply engaged with them. Anyone interested in world literature, in centre-periphery relations and in translation studies will find many discoveries among these writers who together created a minor literature of major proportions. * David Damrosch, Ernest Bernbaum Professor of Comparative Literature and Director of the Institute for World Literature, Harvard University, USA *
This useful book offers new perspectives on the relationship between Dutch writing and other literatures through the ages. The contributors make a strong case for redefining the position of Dutch as a world literature, opening the way for other unjustly neglected literatures to be re-evaluated. * Susan Bassnett, Professor of Comparative Literature, University of Glasgow and Professor Emerita of Comparative Literature, University of Warwick, UK, and author of Translation Studies (4th edition, 2014) *
For non-Dutch readers, this collection of essays presents a marvellous discovery of the gems of Dutch or Flemish literature, their rich colours and brilliance, and their significance as world literature. This shows what world literature can do at its best – namely, the enrichment of world literature by bringing in the best of the world’s various literary traditions, particularly those globally yet-unknown works of great worth and value for our understanding and appreciation. * Zhang Longxi, Chair Professor of Comparative Literature and Translation, City University of Hong Kong, and President of the International Comparative Literature Association *