The Making of World Literature: Slavno je za otadžbinu mreti by Danilo Kiš and Mily dicső a hazáért halni by Péter Esterházy

Abstract

The paper develops in a specific reading strategy of appropriation of Danilo Kiš’s story Slavno je za otadžbinu mreti in Péter Esterházy’s literary opus (first in the story Mily dicső a hazáért halni, published in Hungarian in 1986 with changes due to aspects of the text that are necessarily changed in translation, then in his Introduction to Literature and Celestial Harmonies), in order to offer possible answers to the following questions: What is the role of (in-)translation in the study of literature? What does the metaphor of elliptical refraction (Damrosch) mean as “the most convenient” description for world literature? If the stories of Kiš and Esterházy are the same, but written in different languages and received in different cultural, historical, and social contexts, can we refer to it as one literary work? If the author is different – is the literary work only seemingly the same? Who, in fact, is the author – if Esterházy read and used Kiš's story in translation? How does this vortex-like example contribute to our understanding of world literature, its problems and difficulties, neuralgic and “blind” spots? Who authors world literature canon? How do notions of origins and authenticity resonate in the field of world literature?