Literature, Migration and the Transnationalisation of Literary Fields – Austria and Great Britain

Abstract

This article focuses on the transnationalisation of literary fields that has been taking place since the emergence of literature by migrant writers. This development occurred earlier in some national contexts and later in others. Independent of the historical evolution, however, the presence of migrant authors and their writings caused major changes in literary fields: authors have different cultural and linguistic backgrounds than the majority of their readers, the texts are set in far-away places; thus, also literary critics and scholars start to look into new topics and regions and readers are eventually confronted with new worlds. Consequently, transnationalisation also has political implications. However, it has not encompassed all aspects of the literary field. In fact, the individual and different histories of literature and migration in various national contexts show that the national frame is still a powerful and influential aspect. This paper discusses two examples – Austria and Great Britain – of the described transnationalisation and examines the role still held by national frames in literary fields.