Mundus Artium

Mundus Artium: A Journal of International Literature and the Arts, edited by Rainer Schulte, was launched in 1967 to make international writers available to an English-speaking audience. From the very beginning, the distinctive feature of Mundus Artium can be expressed by the phrase “avant-garde.” This phrase has often been confused with being trendy and fashionable. However, the editors of Mundus Artium interpreted “avant-garde” with its original connotation: being at the forefront of imaginative and innovative literary developments.

As the title of Mundus Artium (the World of the Arts) indicates, the journal was not restricted to representing literary works. The subtitle “a journal of international literature and the arts” supports that intention. Over 120 artists have been included in the pages of Mundus Artium. Perhaps one of the major achievements of Mundus Artium can be seen in the reevaluation of the importance of the literary translator as a creative mediator between two languages and cultures. Mundus Artium contributed greatly to giving the translator a crucial role within the literary and scholarly community.

Mundus Artium published hundreds of international authors during its publication time from 1967 to 1985. The first issue of Mundus Artium introduced works by Ilse Aichinger, Richard Eberhart, Günter Grass, Pablo Neruda, and Giuseppe Ungaretti, among others. Mundus Artium also published special issues dedicated to Latin American Poetry and Fiction, Swedish poetry, Venezuelan poetry, Turkish writing, Central American writers, Serbo-Croatian writing, International Women Writers, African writers, and Arabic literature.

Volume I

Volume II

Volume III

Volume IV

Volume V

Volume VI