With the continuous advancement of globalization, both the economy and life are deeply affected by globalization. For example, in the world literature circle, Goethe's world literature theory has once again caused a lot of discussion. Goethe proposed the concept of world literature in the 18th century, but this concept originated from China and was named after Greece, because the center of the concept of world literature is based on Chinese poetry and novels, going back to the Greek period of literary canonization.
First of all, Chinese elements are an important part of Goethe's "world literature". A professor of German literature named Buite Ceramics once said that when Goethe was creating, he translated ancient Chinese poems and annotations into English, and then translated the ancient poems translated into English into German through Goethe's understanding. His "world literature" spread. Moreover, Goethe was deeply influenced by the famous British novelist Samuel Richardson, who was a famous lover of Chinese culture. Then, Goethe's concept of world literature was proposed because after Goethe read a Chinese novel called "The Legend of Haoqiu" and was influenced by our country's ideology and culture, he proposed to include foreign literature while chatting with his friend Eckerman. As a model to promote world literature and culture towards canonization, that is to say, the center of Goethe's world literature is Chinese literature, so there is a saying that "world literature originates from China".
Then, it is named Greek because the main theme of century literature is to return to the period of ancient Greek literary classics. In the Middle Ages, the German region was divided for a long time. By the 18th century, with the development of national languages, the German people's sense of cultural nationalism became stronger and stronger, and their demand for national unity and strength became greater and greater. Therefore, in the From the end of the eighteenth century to the beginning of the nineteenth century, a kind of cosmopolitan Enlightenment thought emerged. At that time, a kind of Hellenistic cultural thought was also popular in the intellectual circles, which idealized ancient Greek culture. Among them, Goethe was a follower of ancient Greek culture. When he proposed world literature, Goethe also talked about going back to ancient Greece. Come in search of universal, transcendent literary quality. Moreover, Germany was still in a state of division at that time. In the eyes of intellectuals, this situation was exactly the same as that of ancient Greece, which further promoted their transformation of history. Goethe was the originator of this kind of "ancient Greek studies" at that time.
Finally, there has been a lot of discussion about Goethe’s theory of world literature, but it should be based on developing the national literature of the country and absorbing valuable foreign cultural achievements instead of following other countries.