Flemish Literature and World Literature

Abstract

"Belgian-French literature ... is in a doubly disadvantaged position. Its authors first need to be accepted, one could say almost naturalized, as 'French' authors before even getting a chance for wider recognition. ... For Belgian-Dutch or Flemish literature the position is worse still, given that even big brother Dutch literature proper, originating from the Netherlands, apparently does not carry sufficient weight on the world literature scale to even be noticed. ... Only time will tell whether any Flemish writer, any Dutch writer, will ever make it into that pantheon of world authors, and into the anthologies consecrating them as such, but there is hope .... scholarly books such as Doing Double Dutch (2017) and journal issues such as ... Dutch Crossing ..., focusing on the transnational trajectories of Dutch literature, help clarify the patterns of power-linguistic, cultural, economic, historical-underlying world literature in its various, and shifting, guises."