Intermediate text and the canonicity of world literature

Abstract

The notion “intermediate text” refers to a somewhat neglected genre or type of text emerging through the mutual interaction between local literatures and world literature. “Intermediate text” as a category comprises texts from a local literature influenced by the hypercanon of world literature, yet at the same time approaching the canon from a critical and local perspective. Such intermediate texts play a role as critical mediators between the local and the global, also assuming the function of a contestatory canon from a local point of view as well as forming a “shadow canon” on the global scene. In this article, intermediate texts will be characterized by three features: historicity, mediation, and absorption. The primary texts are works by Mo Yan and Julian Barnes, both of whom, as a Nobel Prize winner and a Man Booker Prize winner, have a potential for acquiring both local and international canonicity. Inspired by William Faulkner and Gabriel García Márquez, Mo Yan builds on an international canon, while also creating works with strong Chinese elements. Unlike Mo Yan's intermediate texts, Julian Barnes's novels situate themselves within the network of canonical writers such as Gustave Flaubert, yet without “writing back” on local conditions.