Tagungsbroschüre_Zweisprachigkeit_Vecjezicnost

What Are Small Literatures? Preliminary Reflection on
Concepts. Positions, and Discourses
JEANNE E. GLESENER
“The designation ‘a small literature’ offends the ear of every Rhaeto-
Roman. It is the gaze from the outside, which imposes comparison and
necessarily oversimplifies and distorts things. This literature may indeed
seem small when weighed against the literary output of a literature in a
world language. But is this how literary significance is measured? Is
greatness limited to output only? To be fair, should not comparison
compare what is alike?” As this quotation from the Swiss literary
scholar Iso Camartin clearly shows, the concept of small literatures
requires an explanation as well as a critical investigation of comparative
criteria hitherto applied when determining or evaluating so-called small
literatures. This presentation examines both of these topics and
addresses the following questions: 1) Are quantitative criteria helpful in
determining small literatures? 2) Are age, geocultural location, and
processes of institutionalization further decisive criteria? 3) Are small
literatures always written in small languages? Is literary multilingualism a
characteristic of small literary cultures? 4) What are the characteristic
metaliterary discourses in small literary cultures? and 5) Is it possible to
comprehend small literatures outside of the relational major-minor and
center- periphery dialects? Examples to sustain the arguments are drawn
from Luxembourg literature and other small European literatures.
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