Toward a New Possibility of World Literature

• Main Author: Tijana Parezanović
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Zadar 2019-06-01
• Series: [sic]
• Online Access: http://www.sic-journal.org/ArticleView.aspx?aid=544

One might perhaps feel that the question of the other has been extensively theorized, especially (though far from exclusively) within postcolonial and gender studies, and the processes of othering already illuminated from different perspectives. On the other hand, there are probably those who think that the question deserves constant attention and careful (re)considerations, and Igor Grbić’s book The Occidentocentric Fallacy: Turning Literature into a Province poses a provocative challenge to both stances. What if – the book’s underlying hypothesis seems to suggest – the entire notion of the other is nothing but, as the title states, a misconception narcissistically promulgated by what we commonly refer to as the West although it in effect counts not more than a couple of states, a mere province in any map of the world? What if, namely, numerous scholars and researchers who are concerned with the question of the other in the field of literary studies, criticism and theory only perpetuate, however unintentionally, the established misconception, simply by working within the norms of Western and neglecting all traditions of non-Western literary criticism? The occidentocentric fallacy is, according to the author of this book, particularly prominent and problematic when at work in literary arts, the humanities branch that is supposed to offer a holistic and universal evaluation of imaginative expressions. Therefore, while exposing different facets of the occidentocentric fallacy, this book engages, through its eight chapters, in offering a new description of the scope and idea of the elusive concept of world literature.