Nation-state sovereignty as the foundation for world literature and human rights

Abstract Discussions of world literature and human rights, for example by Elizabeth Anker and Joseph Slaughter, have sought to establish a universal basis for considering both that uses international law and a unified world literature canon as defining for their relationship. Such an approach fails to consider how nation-state sovereignty provides the framework within which both world literature and human rights must be understood. This essay analyses arguments concerning the relationship between world literature and human rights, particularly in the context of the work of Khaled Hosseini and the US war in Afghanistan, in order to argue for the importance of considerations of sovereignty for such discussions.