We have observed in several previous posts (see, e.g., our posts of 10 August 2009 and 9 February 2010) that
[l]iterature in English translation constitutes only about three percent of all books published in the United States in any given year. (Actually, this figure somewhat overstates the case, since it includes all books published in translation--the amount of literary fiction and poetry published in English translation actually is less than one percent.) Since most Americans are monolingual, this means that great swaths of world literature are virtually unknown to U.S. citizens....
We have suggested several different ways that folks can nonetheless access some of the world's greatest "foreign" literature.
One means of access that we have not yet detailed, though, may well be the most attractive of all, for it utilizes aspects of the variorum edition and books in series to help one build a private library of world literature by proxy.
Meet...Oxford World's Classics:
Founded as the World's Classics Series in 1901 by Grant Richards, the imprint was purchased by Oxford University Press in 1906. The hundreds of volumes that have been published under this imprint over the past century (in several different series) constitute one of OUP's most important and enduring contributions to the cause of great literature, irrespective of language.
Because these are world classics, a large number of the titles were originally published in English. Accordingly, collectors who already own this imprint's English-language titles may well choose to focus their attention only upon those titles that originally were published in another language.
Of course, completists will relish the challenge of trying to collect as many titles as they can in all of the series published under this imprint. Although difficult, this may prove to be surprisingly more affordable than one might think....
Recent Comments