Who Creates the World Author?

Abstract Connecting translation studies and authorship studies, this article offers a theoretical framework for a sociology of world literature, which can enrich the research program on world literature established by Pascale Casanova, David Damrosch, and Franco Moretti. A sociological perspective needs to consider the network of individuals and institutions which contributes to the making of world authorship. If Bourdieu asked: “who created the creator?”, this paper asks: “who created the world author?” Focusing on literary translations, the paper makes first some theoretical propositions to distinguish different categories of actors which take part in transcultural (inter)mediation: intermediaries, translators and mediators. It then examines their respective roles in the two stages of production and reception of literary translations.