Crossings and passages in genre and culture

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Crossings and Passages in Genre and Culture examines the diverse journeys of artistic expression, particularly literature, across various cultural fields and historical contexts. The essays in this volume adopt a flexible approach to genre, steering clear of superficial classifications, and focus on the dimensions and potential that cultural encounters unleash in genre transformation. In addition to broader transcultural themes, the work highlights transgeneric, intertextual, and intermedial crossings and transferences. Contributors analyze a wide range of literary forms, including specula, travelogues, poetry, prose poems, novels, and sacred texts. By juxtaposing texts and genres from cultures and languages such as Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, German, and other European languages, the volume employs a comparative approach essential for understanding the evolution of art forms. The exploration of medieval texts illustrates that these transformative processes are not limited to contemporary global literary systems. This book is aimed at scholars of comparative literature and those interested in the literature of the Far East, the Middle East, European literatures, and literary theory.