"How to Read World Literature addresses the unique challenges faced by a reader confronting foreign literature: reading across time and cultures, reading translated works well, and exploring today's global perspective. A variety of genres are covered, from lyric and epic poetry to drama and prose fiction, with discussions of how these forms have been used in different eras and cultures, and examples from authors and texts as varied as The Epic of Gilgamesh, Homer, Sophocles, Kalidasa, Du Fu, Murasaki, The 1001 Nights, Moliere, Conrad, Soyinka, and Walcott." "Accessible and enlightening, How to Read World Literature offers readers the tools to navigate literary works from around the world."--BOOK JACKET.