Poetry Anthologies as Weltliteratur Projects

Following the cultural approach developed in Göttingen (1982–1995), four contemporary anthologies of world poetry, two Portuguese and two German, are analysed. The quantitative and qualitative parameters applied to the anthologies in question provide insights into the different concepts of world poetry underlying the many configurations of national and foreign literatures at a time when the literary canon is more or less stabilised and translation has assumed its invaluable role in the specific task of cultural transfer represented by world poetry anthologies.