Literary traditions of the world are many and varied.
The fundamental difference between British literature and world literature is perspective. British literature is written from a British point of view -- the narrator may be British, or the work of literature in question may treat an issue as it relates to the British experience. World literature is a blanket expression used to describe any literature that is not written from a specifically Western perspective or that adds a new, global dimension to what is traditionally considered the Western perspective.
British Literature
British literature is the body of literary work concerned with the British experience. It addresses issues as they affect the English, Irish, Scottish or Welsh population at home or abroad. British literature includes canonical works such as "Beowulf," one of the oldest written epics and perhaps the most important to the Anglo-Saxon tradition. It also encompasses more modern works of literature written by British authors or that deal with British points of view.
World Literature
World literature refers to literature from around the globe. The phrase comes from the Western tradition and is used to classify works that are non-Western in origin. In 1827, German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe coined the expression -- "weltliteratur" in German -- to describe texts from countries and cultural traditions outside Western Europe. World literature encompasses African, American, Arabic, Asian, Australian, Caribbean, English, Indian and Latin American literature and the subcategories therein. Some of these countries and regions may generally be classified as Western; however, the notion of world literature is used to designate those literary works that treat non-Western issues and themes, whether in the context of a Western country or not. For example, indigenous texts of the Americas would be called world literature according to Goethe's West-centric definition.
Literatures of Globalization
Contemporary literature has witnessed a growing body of work that treats the experience of globalization. Literature of globalization fundamentally alters the classification of literature by country or culture by approaching characters and subject matter from varied or complex points of view. For example, literature that describes the immigrant experience can be called a literature of globalization in which the cultural traditions of the country of origin are introduced and then preserved or modified in the adopted country. Literature of globalization can take a positive or negative stance regarding the process of globalization. A positive approach treats the process of globalization as an opportunity to expand the cultural vocabulary of people everywhere while a negative perspective views the increasing pressure to assimilate to a Western and capitalist lifestyle as a threat to the preservation of different ideas and traditions from all over the world.
Cross-Cultural Literature
Cross-cultural literature often deals with the complications and complexities that arise from cultural hybridity. This hybridity originates when two contrasting cultures come into contact with one another, for example, through immigration, war, occupation or exile. Cross-cultural literature explores the tensions that accompany the mixing of cultural traditions. Contemporary writers such as Jhumpa Lahiri and Sandra Cisneros are famous for their examinations of cross-cultural hybridity.
