The World Republic Of Letters Of Casanova: Transformation Of The Evaluation Mechanism Of Literature

The World Republic of Letters by Pascale Casanova was proposed as the therapy at the end of the twentieth century under the circumstances in which the Comparative Literature faced the challenges for defending itself within the tradition.It aims at analyzing the correlation of literature works within the macro-historical aspect.Focusing on the changing of the definition of “literary”,Casanova investigated the legitimacy of the literature as well as the evaluation mechanism itself.The author borrowed the field theory from Pierre Bourdieu,analyzing the unequal situation the works of literature faced in this literary space.This thesis is to interpret the theories which support the construction of the World Republic of Letters,and to demonstrate why the modernity of literature contains limitation inevitably according to Casanova.It also reveals how the progress of autonomy of literature,and the tendency of treating personal judgment as universal value are affected in the global,modern world under Casanova's mechanism.The introduction summarized the presupposition and the background when The World Republic of Letters is asserted.Also,this part explains the key concepts borrowed from other theories by Casanova and closely related to her ideas.The first chapter involves the comparison of “The World Republic of Letters” as the term used by Casanova,with the idiom commonly used as “the Republic of Letters”.The second chapter focuses on language and literature.By illustrating the concerning theories from Du Bellay,Leopardi,and Herder that assisted Casanova to establish her theory,this chapter reveals the origin of the World Republic of Letters,and its mechanism afterwards.In the third chapter,the reason and effects of this evaluation theory are revealed by analyzing how the tastes of particulars are tuned into legitimate and universal standards of “literacy” by means of literary capital.The argues that the shifting of the literary tastes themselves forged the history of the World Republic of Letters,as well as the sense of the time in this space.The fourth chapter focuses on understanding Casanova's “world”.The universal world is on one hand,necessary for when individuals to grasp the reality,and on the other hand,it asserts itself as the privileged opinions or as the temporal consensus which established the order in the World Republic of Letters.Hence,the “fabric universality” is the key essence for “literacy” to develop with the particular context.However,it risks in ethnocentrism when deploying itself.In conclusion,the legitimacy of the literature displays the strategy of turning the differences into the order of hierarchy,as well as the tools of abstraction and the universality in understanding the world in the modern era.