Small literatures in comparative literature: self-translation and minor uses of major languages

Abstract

In this article, I examine the relevance of the Asturian case to the study of small literatures within comparative literature. I revisit key theoretical references on small literatures in relation to linguistic minoritization and offer a new reading of Historia universal de Paniceiros [Universal Story of Paniceiros] (2002) by Xuan Bello, the best-known Asturian literary work available in Spanish. First, I argue that the book exhibits several characteristics that have been considered essential to small literatures since Franz Kafka’s journal reflections on the subject, including the presence of themes common to such literatures, processes of deterritorialization, and the absence of a firmly established literary tradition. Second, I analise self-translation from a minoritized language (Asturian) into a dominant language (Spanish) to explore whether, as Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari suggest, a “minor literature” can be produced by a minority within a major language. This approach entails examining the traces of linguistic and cultural minoritization that remain visible in the Spanish version of Hestoria universal de Paniceiros. Ultimately, I seek to highlight the intimate connection between translation and literary creation, as well as between comparative literature and self/translation. In doing so, I aim to move beyond an understanding of Asturian literary history as either self-contained or merely dependent on the literatures that surround it, while also positioning literature written in Asturian within current debates in comparative literature.