literature as capital

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Thu Sep 2 07:52:23 PDT 1999


"English-Language Dominance, Literature and Welfare"

BY: JACQUES MELITZ

Center for Research in Economics and Statistics

(CREST-INSEE)

Paper ID: CEPR Discussion Paper Series No. 2055

Date: January 1999

Contact: JACQUES MELITZ

Email: Mailto:melitz at ensae.fr

Postal: Center for Research in Economics and Statistics

(CREST-INSEE)

Bureau 2018

15 Boulevard Gabriel Peri

92245 Malakoff Cedex

Paris, FRANCE

Phone: (33 1) 41 17 60 46

Fax: (33 1) 41 17 60 34

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ABSTRACT:

The tendency of a single world market to privilege the

translation of English fiction and poetry into other languages

for reading or listening enjoyment may damage the production of

world literature and in this respect make us all worse off. In

order to develop this thesis, the article begins with an

economic model of the market for imaginative works in which

translations are systematically concentrated on writings in the

original language with the largest share in world sales. The

model is then shown to agree with the facts. Next, it is argued

that high concentration of translations on works coming from one

particular language hurts the production of literature directly,

because variety of languages of origin is enriching as such, and

indirectly, because the concentration damages the incentives of

those who do not write in the leading language to invest in

their own talents. "Literature" in the paper refers to earlier

production of imaginative works which represents capital or is

still read.

JEL Classification: E00, F00 ______________________________



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