Comparing the Incomparable: Area Studies in a Networked World

Professor David Damrosch, Harvard University

Drawing on examples from Japanese and French theater, from world music, and from new internet-based narratives, this talk will explore some of the challenges and opportunities that globalization offers for the comparative study of regional cultures as the old colonial trade routes give way to complexly interlocking modes of artistic production and reception.

Professor David Damrosch

David Damrosch is Ernest Bernbaum Professor of Literature and the Chair of the Department of Comparative Literature at Harvard University, and is a past President of the American Comparative Literature Association. Professor Damrosch is also the Founding Director of the Institute of World Literature (www.iwl.fas.harvard.edu). His recently published books include 'What Is World Literature?' (2003), 'The Buried Book: The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh' (2007), and 'How to Read World Literature' (2009). He is the founding general editor of the six-volume 'Longman Anthology of World Literature' (2nd ed. 2009) and is also the co-editor of 'The Princeton Source Book in Comparative Literature' (2009), of 'Xin fangxiang: bijiao wenxu yu shijie wenxue duben' (2010, New Directions: A Reader of Comparative and World Literature), of 'The Routledge Companion to World Literature' (2011), and most recently a co-editor of 'The Canonical debate Today: Crossing Disciplinary and Cultural Boundaries' (2011).

Contact email: kl19@soas.ac.uk; ad48@soas.ac.uk