Busl, Gretchen2023-03-202023-03-202020This is a published version of an article that is available at https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A653383148/LitRC?u=acd_artemis&sid=googleScholar&xid=dd011003. Recommended citation: Busl, G. (2020). Fictions of circulation and the question of world literature. Papers on Language & Literature, 56(1), 3+. This item has been deposited in accordance with publisher copyright and licensing terms and with the author’s permission.https://hdl.handle.net/11274/14700https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A653383148/LitRC?u=acd_artemis&sid=googleScholar&xid=dd011003Article originally published in Papers on Language & Literature, 56(1), 3+. Published online 2020. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A653383148/LitRC?u=acd_artemis&sid=googleScholar&xid=dd011003Permission to deposit this file was given through direct contact with the publisher. For more information please see the faculty member's entry in Project INDEX -- EDH 7/6/23The question "what is world literature?" is not a new one, but it is one that has seen considerable debate over the last twenty years. The scholarly discourse around this question has increased in urgency, arguably a result of the increased rhetoric surrounding the many competing notions of globalization. While traditional notions of "world literature" as a canonical body of texts have certainly fallen by the wayside, the answer to this question remains a matter of much dispute. Is world literature a discipline? Is it a methodology? Is it a mode of writing? This special issue makes no claims to provide another new definitive answer to this question; instead, it aims only to suggest ways in which we might complicate the question itself.en-USCirculation of literatureLiterary world systemsNarrative ecosystemsArticle