Lead editor: Ursula K. Heise, Marcia H. Howard Chair in Literary Studies in the Department of English at UCLA.
Anthology: Futures of Comparative Literature: ACLA State of the Discipline Report. Routledge, 2017.
This anthology consists of essays by and conversations among 64 leading scholars of comparative literature, who reflect on key debates within the discipline and on its theories, methods, and aims. The book collects selected entries first published online in the American Comparative Literature Association’s digital 2014-2015 State of the Discipline Report, and is part of a series of such reports that the ACLA has published once a decade since 1965.
Futures of Comparative Literature is a cutting edge report on the state of the discipline in Comparative Literature. Offering a broad spectrum of viewpoints from all career stages, a variety of different institutions, and many language backgrounds, this collection is fully global and diverse. The book includes previously unpublished interviews with key figures in the discipline as well as a range of different essays–short pieces on key topics and longer, in-depth pieces. It is divided into seven sections: Futures of Comparative Literature; Theories, Histories, Methods; Worlds; Areas and Regions; Languages, Vernaculars, Translations; Media; Beyond the Human; and contains over 50 essays on topics such as: Queer Reading; Human Rights; Fundamentalism; Untranslatability; Big Data; Environmental Humanities. It also includes current facts and figures from the American Comparative Literature Association as well as a very useful general introduction, situating and introducing the material. Curated by an expert editorial team, this book captures what is at stake in the study of Comparative Literature today.