| Abstrakt: |
How does the global popularity of bestselling romance novel Fifty Shades of Grey complicate David Damrosch's seminal definition of World Literature as 'literary works that circulate beyond their culture of origin,' and which are 'actively present within a literary system beyond that of [their] original culture'? By offering a formal textual analysis of a novel few would call 'literature,' I explore how Fifty Shades provides a test case for rethinking what World Literature is, how it travels, and how we study it. With its 'digital-like' form and celebration of affective labour, Fifty Shades encourages readers to publicise the novel by spreading fragments of its content through online social media networks as a form of unpaid labour. This 'spreading' of the novel compels us to reconsider World Literature in the light of digital media and fan participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
