This paper specifies four concepts of world literatures, singling out the Weltliteratur of Goethean-Marxian kind, with the intention of verifying the theoretical potential of the perspective of the Korean peninsula. The other three categories of world literatures are as follows; firstly, World Literature as the Western Canon; secondly, World Literature as the global bestsellers; thirdly, World Literature assumed by the discipline of Comparative Literature. These separate but interdependent concepts need rigorous scrutiny in the geopolitical realm of their world-literary configurations. This paper purports to verify the relevance of Weltliteratur of Goethean-Marxian kind in the present century. It argues for the world literature as a transnational engagement of literary intellectuals who devote themselves to their incommensurable yet bridgeable local realities.