关键词: 文学的世界史, 欧洲中心主义, 空间和时间的划分, 英语的“霸权”问题, 作为发现的世界文学

Abstract: The four-volume set of Literature: A World History is the result of a project of long-term international collaboration and the first ever historical survey of the world’s literatures beyond the biases of Eurocentrism, for it is written by scholars from different countries and regions with different cultural backgrounds. The project started at an international conference held in Stockholm in 2004 and the four volumes were published by the reputable press, Wiley Blackwell, in 2022 after almost two decades of repeated discussions of basic concepts, ideas, and the preparation of the manuscript. The author had participated in the conceptualization and the actual writing of LAWH from the beginning to the end, and at this time when the Chinese translation of LAWH will soon be published, he will talk about the features, significance and values of this history of the world’s literatures based on his personal experience.

Key words: history of the world’s literatures;, Eurocentrism, periodization and macro-regions, the “hegemony” of English, world literature as discovery