This book provides a history of the way in which literature not only reflects, but actively shapes processes of globalization and our notions of global phenomena. It takes in a broad sweep of history, from antiquity, through to the era of imperialism and on to the present day. Whilst its primary focus is our own historical conjuncture, it looks at how earlier periods have shaped this by tracking key concepts that are imbricated with the concept of globalization, from translation, to empire, to pandemics and environmental collapse. Drawing on these older themes and concerns, it then traces the germ of the relation between global phenomena and literary studies into the 20th and 21st centuries, exploring key issues and frames of study such as contemporary slavery, the digital, world literature and the Anthropocene.

Introduction Joel Evans; Origins: 1. The ecology of globalization: Environmental catastrophe and the history of literature Walter Cohen; 2. Forms of premodern literary circulation Alexander Beecroft; 3. The end of history: Literature, eschatology and its legacies Joel Evans; 4. Translation: Print culture and internationalism Mary Helen McMurran; 5. Empire: The 19th century global novel in English Elleke Boehmer and Dominic Davies; Developments: 6. Joseph Conrad, the global and the sea Michael Greaney; 7. Mutual equality: Modernism and globalization Paul Stasi; 8. Edward Said: Literature and the World Conor McCarthy; 9. The new McWorld order: Postmodernism and corporate globalization Simon Malpas; 10. Pharmakon, difference and the Arche-digital Claire Colebrook; 11. Time-space compression: The long view Mark Currie; 12. The matter of blackness in World literature Joseph H. Jackson; 13. World-systems, literature and Geoculture Matthew Eatough; 14. World author: On exploding Canons and writing towards more equitable literary futures Rebecca Braun; Applications: 15. The globalization of the enclave Matthew Hart; 16. Geopolitics and the novel: The case of the Mediterranean Noir Caren Irr; 17. Spy fiction in the age of the global Maria Christou; 18. The 21st century global slave narrative trade Laura Murphy; 19. Planetary poetics Christian Moraru; 20. Addressing globalization in the Anthropocene Samuel Solnick; Bibliography; Index.