Artificial Intelligence and Machine translation have changed how we read and understand literature, especially in a diverse country like India. With so many languages and dialects, translating literary works is a big challenge. AI used tools like Google Translate that help to translate. However, they also come with challenges like loss of cultural depth and incorrect translations. This paper explores how AI make impact Indian and also global comparative literature, with a focus on Bengali literature.

AI has made it easier to translate literature from one language to another. For example, a famous Bengali novel like "Pather Panchali" by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay can now be translated into multiple languages using AI. This allows people who do not understand Bengali to read and enjoy it. AI helps in cross-cultural exchanges and makes regional literature reach a global audience.

But AI-based translation also has problems. One major issue is that AI may not understand the cultural depth of a language. If AI translates a poem by Rabindranath Tagore, it may not capture the true essence and beauty of the words. AI often translates literally, which can change the meaning of the text.

Another challenge is the dominance of certain languages. AI translation tools mostly focus on popular languages like English and Hindi, while smaller regional languages get less attention. This can lead to the loss of unique literary traditions in languages like Bengali, Tamil, or Assamese. Human translators are still needed to ensure that the true meaning of a literary work is preserved.

However, AI is also creating new opportunities. It allows more people to access literature from different regions. Platforms like Project Anuvaad and Google Bhashini are helping to bridge the language gap by translating Indian literature into various languages. This means that a Bengali novel can be read in Tamil or Marathi, increasing its reach and influence.

AI has also helped in comparative literature studies. Scholars can now analysed texts from different languages more easily. For example, researchers can compare Bengali literature with Hindi or Urdu literature using AI tools. This was difficult in the past because human translation took a lot of time and effort. AI speeds up the process and helps in finding similarities and differences between literary traditions.

Bengali literature has a long history of deep and meaningful storytelling. Writers like Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay and Mahasweta Devi have written about social issues, human emotions, and historical events. If their works are translated by AI, readers from different parts of the world can learn about Bengal’s culture and history. However, AI must improve in understanding the true essence of these stories.

One major concern with AI translation is whether it truly represents the author’s voice. Literature is not just about words; it is about context, structure of narrative, story’s emotion etc. AI-generated translations may miss these aspects, leading to misunderstandings of the original work. For example, if AI translates a Bengali folk tale, it might not include the cultural significance behind the story, making it less impactful.

The use of AI in literature also has economic effects. Many human translators and literary experts fear that AI might take over their jobs. However, AI should be seen as a tool that helps translators rather than replacing them. Human expertise is still necessary to ensure accurate and meaningful translations.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine translation (MT) have both challenges and opportunities in Indian literature. While they help in spreading literature across languages, they must improve in capturing the depth and beauty of literary works. The case of Bengali literature shows that AI has a long way to go in understanding the richness of Indian storytelling. As AI technology develops, it must focus on cultural sensitivity and linguistic accuracy to truly benefit comparative literature in India and beyond.

Narrative Worlds of K-pop Idol Fan Fiction: A Comparative Digital Humanities Approach to Domestic and Global Fandoms

The growing prominence of K-pop idol intellectual property (IP) and its transnational fandoms has reshaped contemporary cultural industries, positioning K-pop not merely as a subcultural phenomenon but as a dominant force in the global entertainment market. This study investigates the mechanisms through which K-pop idol IPs construct narrative worlds and examines the role of fandom engagement in shaping these narratives.

A key focus of this research is the comparative analysis of fandom practices, particularly in the context of fan fiction and narrative consumption. Drawing from comparative literature perspectives, this study explores how domestic and international fans of EXO—a representative K-pop idol group—interact with and reinterpret idol narratives. It examines the extent to which these fan communities engage with official story worlds, idol personas, or their physical representations, highlighting key divergences in narrative focus across different cultural contexts.

To systematically analyze these phenomena, this study employs digital humanities methodologies, utilizing tf-idf keyword analysis and LDA topic modeling to extract thematic structures within fan-generated content. Furthermore, advanced visualization techniques—including PCA, t-SNE, UMAP+k-means, and UMAP+DBSCAN clustering—are applied to discern patterns in narrative engagement. Network analysis is also employed to map the relational structures between individual idol members, fan fiction narratives, and the broader K-pop story world.

The dataset for this study comprises over 30,000 English-language fan fiction works from Archive of Our Own (AO3), spanning from 2012 to the present (2025), offering insight into international fandom engagement. In contrast, Korean fan fiction is collected directly from dedicated fan communities and platforms, ensuring a representative dataset of domestic fan creations. By integrating comparative literary analysis with computational methodologies, this study provides a nuanced understanding of K-pop fandom’s role in narrative expansion and cultural production. The findings offer critical insights into the evolving dynamics of transnational fan engagement, contributing to the broader discourse on digital storytelling, participatory culture, and the intersections of technology and fandom studies.

K-pop, idol, EXO, fandom, narrative world, comparative literature, digital humanities, computational analysis, Comparative literature, fan fiction

Reclaiming Black Futures: Afrofuturism as a Transformative Response to Afropessimism.

Afrofuturism and Afropessimism represent two divergent frameworks for understanding Black existence, history, and future trajectories. while Afropessimism emphasizes the structural and historical conditions of anti-Black violence and the inescapable nature of Black suffering within the social order, Afrofuturism presents an alternative narrative that blends African diasporic culture with speculative. This presentation explores Afrofuturism as a critical response to Afropessimism, arguing that while Afropessimism effectively critiques current and historical forms of anti-Blackness, it risks reinforcing notions of Black death and despair without imagining pathways toward a future.

Afrofuturism, by contrast, constructs spaces where Black identity, joy, and futurity are envisioned through technology, space travel, and speculative worlds, creating new narratives in literature, music, and visual art that challenge the limitations imposed by both Western colonial histories and contemporary racial capitalism. This presentation will examine the literary works of Afrofuturists such as Octavia Butler and Sun Ra, alongside theorists like Kodwo Eshun and Alondra Nelson, to argue that Afrofuturism offers a transformative vision that reclaims Black agency, culture, and potentiality beyond the confines of current oppressive structures. This work argues that Afrofuturism is a vital component of Global Futurism, enriching the collective exploration of future possibilities by introducing narratives that reflect the experiences and aspirations of the African diaspora, thereby fostering a more inclusive and multifaceted understanding of potential futures in literature and the arts.