'Overall, Combined and Uneven Development not only offers a much-needed theorisation of how literature is shaped by the `world', but also how it can reimagine different political, historical, and social contexts. Through a number of compelling case studies from a range of geopolitical contexts the WReC exemplify how their theory of world-literature can be discerned and developed in peripheral and ... Read moresemi-peripheral literary spaces.' Isabelle Hesse, The University of Sydney, Postcolonial Studies Association 'Theoretically, they emphasise that literature is a globally connected system, in which one can differentiate between core cultures and peripheries.... For world-literature understood in this sense, the authors elaborate a valuable and undeniably useful toolkit of literary analysis.' Peter Hajdu, Recherche Litteraire / Literary Research 'I would recommend the book as an introductory piece that can double as an entree into the WReC's other projects, all of which are well worth the read.' Matthew Eatough, Postcolonial Text 'Hinging on the powerful explanatory value of the concept of combined and uneven development, this well-conceived and carefully researched collective effort makes a strong case for its own, highly developed 'world-systems' approach to the `world' in `world literature' while at the same time situating itself critically but patiently within the welter of rubrics and jargons that have made any scholarly venture into postcolonial and/or world literary territories a parlous one simply because of the danger of getting bogged down in endlessly sectarian disputes over the purported politics implied in the adoption of this or that self-designation.' Neil Larsen Reviews 'This book marks a new path. From its opening to its concluding lines, it is analytically precise, uncannily well-read, forthright without being blunt, and as comprehensive as any study of world literature is ever likely to be. The book promises a new comparatism and it very much delivers: eloquently, intelligently, and with a distinctive command.' Timothy Brennan, University of Minnesota Show Less