Over the centuries, an unusually sh

Over the centuries, an unusually shifty work can come in and out of the sphere of world literature several different times; and at any given point, a work may function as world literature for some readers but not others, and for some kinds of reading but not others. The shifts a work may undergo, moreover, do not reflect the un- folding of some internal logic of the work in itself but come about through often complex dynamics of cultural change and contestation. Very few works secure a quick and permanent place in the limited company of peren- nial World Masterpieces; most works shift around over time, even moving into and out of the category of “the masterpiece,” as we will see in the third chapter below.