Eurasia without Borders: The Dream of a Leftist Literary Commons, 1919-1943

Katerina Clark's book "Eurasia without Borders" explores the efforts of Soviet, European, and Asian leftist writers to create a Eurasian commons through a literary arm of the Communist International, aiming to rival Western capitalist literature. The book highlights the international left's contributions to global twentieth-century literary movements, challenging Eurocentric and postcolonial narratives. It acknowledges the challenges and compromises of socialist literary internationalism but emphasizes its significant achievements and resonances in later movements.

Format: Hardback
Length: 464 pages
Publication date: 26 November 2021
Publisher: Harvard University Press

A significant voice in the field presents a long-awaited corrective to the contentious concept of world literature. Katerina Clark explores the endeavors of Soviet, European, and Asian leftist writers during the interwar period to establish a Eurasian commons, a unified cultural space that aimed to transcend national, cultural, and linguistic barriers in pursuit of an anticapitalist, anti-imperialist, and later antifascist aesthetic. At the center of this narrative lies the literary branch of the Communist International, known as the Comintern, headquartered in Moscow but extending its influence to cities such as Baku, Beijing, London, and various points in between. Its mission drew a diverse array of writers hailing from countries including Turkey, Iran, India, China, the Soviet Union, and Europe. Between 1919 and 1943, these individuals sought to establish a new world literature that would rival the capitalist republic of Western letters.

Eurasia without Borders challenges conventional narratives of global twentieth-century literary movements. The Eurocentric discourse of world literature primarily emphasizes transatlantic interactions, while largely neglecting the international left and its Asian members. Conversely, postcolonial studies have tended to overlook the socialist-aligned world, favoring the clash between Western European imperialism and subaltern resistance. Clark fills in the gaps, shedding light on a distinctive literature that aimed to blend European and vernacular Asian traditions in the name of a post-imperialist culture.

Socialist literary internationalism, while ambitious, encountered significant challenges and at times succumbed to an orientalist aesthetic that rivaled any emanating from Europe. Its history is marked by both promise and tragedy. Clark meticulously traces the boundaries, compromises, and accomplishments of an ambitious cultural collaboration whose resonances in subsequent movements can no longer be ignored.

Weight: 804g
Dimension: 167 x 245 x 39 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780674261105