World Literature Decentered Beyond the “West” through Turkey, Mexico and Bengal

What would world literature look like, if we stopped referring to the “West”? Starting with the provocative premise that the “‘West’ is ten percent of the planet”, World Literature Decentered is the first book to decenter Eurocentric discourses of global literature and global history – not just by deconstructing or historicizing them, but by actively providing an alternative. Looking at a series of themes across three literatures (Mexico, Turkey and Bengal), the book examines hotels, melancholy, orientalism, femicide and the ghost story in a series of literary traditions outside the “West”. The non-West, the book argues, is no fringe group or token minority in need of attention – on the contrary, it constitutes the overwhelming majority of this world.

Introduction. Circumventing the West. Chapter One. The Ghost Story: Hayalet, Fantasma, Bhut Chapter Two. The Hotel Narrative: Anayurt, Shahjahan, Isabel Chapter Three. Femicide Narratives: Mujer, Mohila, Kadin Chapter Four. Retelling Myth: Mito, Katha, Efsane Chapter Five. Melancholy: Monomora, Melancolía, Hüzün Chapter Six. The Orient: Sark, Prachi, Oriente Conclusion. The Ten Percenters.

Ian Almond is Professor of World Literature at Georgetown University in Qatar. He is the author of six books, most recently Two Faiths, One Banner (2009) and The Thought of Nirad C. Chaudhuri (2015), and over50 articles in a variety of journals. He specializes in comparative world literature, with a tri-continental emphasis on Mexico, Bengal and Turkey. His work has been translated into 13 languages. He has lived and worked in the Middle East (Qatar and Turkey) for over15 years.