Canon and World Literature

Abstract

Canon or the classic refers to the best and most representative works in a literary or cultural tradition, and the rise of world literature now provides an opportunity for scholars of different literary traditions, particularly non-Western and the less well-known and insufficiently studied "minor" traditions, to introduce and present the canonical works they know best to form a canon of world literatures. World literature is not just all the works that happen to circulate beyond their culture of origin, but the collective body of the best canonical works from various literary traditions that circulate to constitute what we call world literature.