This course probes the intersection of world literature and translation in relation to conditions of multilingualism, circulation, and the consolidation/contestation of national literary traditions. In reading key texts from the debates around the concept and practice of world literature, we ask whether its universalizing drive can be reconciled with literary/scholarly investments in locality and specificity. How, moreover, do world literature and translation intersect with questions of empire, race, and non-national formations, especially diaspora? Throughout the semester, we consider the implications for our own work as scholars.