An Essay against Global Literature: Literature and the Global Public

The paper approaches the question of global literature and its putative public by reviewing some of the major debates about world literature (Damrosch; Spivak; Casanova; Moretti) and focusing on the contribution of Alexander Beecroft and his notion of literary ecologies. The institutions officially and unofficially governing the world republic of letters (publishing houses, literary prizes, and so forth) are briefly reviewed and criticized (following Parks; Owen; Coletti). I then address the “global literary ecology” by looking at a few recent examples from Africa, first that of J. M. Coetzee, and then briefly that of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, as well as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, in order to question the viability or desirability of the de facto Anglophone hegemony in the world republic of letters. I conclude by rehearsing the position more or less against global literature (with Spivak and Apter) and for a renewed philology and multilingualism in the spirit of Auerbach and Said.