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ED 361 745

CS 214 040

AUTHOR

Lott, Sandra Ward, Ed.; And OthersTITLEGlobal Perspectives on Teaching Literature: Shared

Visions and Distinctive Visions.

INSTITUTIONNational Council of Teachers of English, Urbana,

REPORT NO

ISBN-0-8141-1854-2

PUB DATE

93
NOTE 412p.
AVAILABLE FROMNational Council of Teachers of English, 1111 W.

Kenyon Rd., Urbana, IL 61801-1096 (Stock No.

18542-3050: $24.95 members, $32.05 nonmembers).PUB TYPEBooks (010)Collected WorksGeneral (020) --GuidesNon-Classroom Use (055)

EDRS PRICE

MF01/PC17 Plus Postage.

DESCRIPTORSCross Cultural Studies; *Figurative Language; Foreign Countries; *Global Approach; Higher Education; High

Schools; *Literary Criticism; *Literary Styles;

Literature Appreciation; Non Western Civilization

IDENTIFIERSAesthetic Reading

ABSTRACT

This book is a collection of essays designed for high school and college teachers who want to introducenon-Western and

other non-canonical texts into their traditional literaturecourses.The essays in the book explore the kinds of visionsencountered when

teachers cluster Western texts with those outside the dominant

Western tradition. Papers in the introductory sectionare: "WorldLiterature in Context" (S. Lawall); "Facing Others, FacingOurselves"(J. P. Hunter); and "Global Perspectives:A Thematic Approach" (S. W.Lott). Papers in the "Private Worlds" sectionare: "Colonial

Encounters of an Autobiographical Kind: Bringing thePersonal Voi,:esof Sean O'Casey and Wole Soyinka to the LiteratureClassroom" (R.Ayling); "Mariama Ba's 'So Longa Letter' and Alice Walker's 'In

Search of Our Mother's Gardens'" (D. Grimes);and "Private Worlds: A

Bibliographi,.: Essay" (S. Palmer). Papers in the "Hero'sQuest"section are: "Heroic Visions in 'The Bhagavad Gita'and the Western

Epic" (M. Foley); "Contending with the MasculinistTraditions:'Sundiata's Sogolon and the Wife of Bath" (S. Vance);"Soseki's'Kokoro': The Voice of the Exile in Quest ofa Modern Self" (P.

Anderer); and "The Hero's Quest: A BibliographicEssay" (E. Hugh--and C. Gravlee). Papers in the sectionon "The Individual, the

Family, and Society" are: "The World Was All before Them':Coming of Age in Ngugi wa Thiong'o's 'Weep Not, Child' and Salinger's 'The Catcher in the Rye" (S. Latham and S. Lott); "Cooper's Indians, Erdrich's Natives Americans" (4. A. McCay); and "The Individual, the Family, and Society: A Bibliographic Essay" (E. H. Rodgers).Papers in the section on "Intertextuality and Cultural Identity"are: "Crossing Cultural Bridges in Search of Drama" (A. Parkin); "Segregation in India: Forster's 'A Passage to India' and Anand's 'Untouchable" (U. Ahlawat); "The King Will Come': Laye Camara's Response to Kafka's World Vision" (P. Egejuru); "Carlos Fuentes's Tribute (and Reply) to Ambrose Bierce in 'The Old Gringo'" (E. Espadas); "African American Renderings of Traditional

Texts" (N.

Lester); "Politics and the Poet in Baraka's 'TheSlave': Turning andTurning in Yeat's Gyres" (M. S. G. Hawkins); and "Intertextualityand

Cultural Identity: A Bibliographic Essay" (M. S. G. Hawkins).Papers in the section on "Approaches to Chinua Achebe's 'Things Fall Apart" are: "Chinua Achebe: The Bicultural Novel and the Ethics of Reading" (B. Henricksen); "If the Shoe Fits: Teaching 'Beowulf' with

Achebe's

'Things Fall Apart" (L. Purdon and J. Wasserman); "An African Turnus: Heroic Response to Colonialism in Vergil's 'Aeneid' and Achebe's 'Things Fall Apart" (N. McMillan); "The Center Holds: The Resilience of Ibo Culture in 'Things Fall Apart" (N. Sarr); and "Approaches to 'Things Fall Apart': A Bibliographic Essay" (J. Lott and S. Lott). (RS) k =4.' I

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College Section Committee

Cynthia Selfe, Chair

Michigan Technological University

Lil Brannon

SUNY at Albany

Doris 0. Ginn, CCCC RepresentativeJackson State University

Miriam T. Chaplin

Rutgers University

Brenda M. Greene

Medgar Evers College, CUNY

Jeanette HarrisUniversity of Southern Mississippi

Tom WaldrepUniversity of South Carolina

Tilly Warnock

University of Arizona, Tucson

James Raymond, ex officioUniversity of Alabama

1-1. Thomas McCracken, CEE RepresentativeYoungstown State University

Louise Smith, ex officioUniversity of Massachusetts at Boston James C. Davis, Executive Committee LiaisonOhio University

Miles Myers, NCTE Staff Liaison

3

Global Perspectives on

Teaching Literature

Shared Visions and Distinctive

Visions

Edited by

Sandra Ward Lott, Maureen S. G. Hawkins,

and Norman McMillan

University of Montevallo

National Council of Teachers of English

1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801-1096

4 NCTE Editorial Board: Rafael Castillo, Cail Hawisher, Joyce Kinkead, Charles Moran, Louise W. Phelps, Charles Suhor, chair ex officio; Michael Spooner, ex officio

Project Editor: William Tucker

Interior Design: Tom Kovacs for TGK Design

Cover Design: Doug Burnett

NCTE Stock Number 18542-3050

© 1993 by the National Council of Teachers of English. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America.

It is the policy of NCTE in its journals and other publications to provide a forum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teaching of English and the language arts.

Publicity accorded to any particular point of view does not imply endorsementby the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, or the membership atlarge, except in announcements of policy, where such endorsement is clearly

specified. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Global perspectives on teaching literature : shared visions anddistinctive visions / edited by Sandra Ward Lott, Maureen S.G.Hawkins, Norman McMillan.

p.cm.Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8141-1854-21. LiteratureStudy and teaching (Higher)United States. I. Lott, Sandra Ward.IL Hawkins, Maureen S. G.III. McMillan,

Norman.

PN70.G57

1993809dc2093-4917

CIP c

Contents

Preface

ix

Introductory Essays: Toward a New

Definition of World Literature

1. World Literature in Context

Sarah Lawall

3

2. Facing Others, Facing Ourselves

J. Paul Hunter

19

3. Global Perspectives: A Thematic Approach

Sandra Ward Lott

30

I. Private Worlds: The Value of Teaching

Diaries, Autobiographies, Letters, and Other

Forms of Personal Expression

4. Colonial Encounters of an Autobiographical Kind:

Bringing the Personal Voices of Sean O'Casey

and Wole Soyinka to the Literature Classroom

Ronald Ay ling

5. Mariama Ba's So Long a Letter and Alice Walker's

In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: A Senegalese

and an African American Perspective on "Womanism"

Dorothy Grimes

6. Private Worlds: A Bibliographic Essay

Sarah Palmer

II. The Hero's Quest

7. Heroic Visions in The Bhagavad Gita and the

Western Epic

Milton Foley

6, 51
65
77
89
v vi

8. Contending with the Masculinist Traditions:

Sundiata's Sogolon and the Wife of Bath

Sidney Vance

101

9. Soseki's Kokoro: The Voice of the Exile in

Quest of a Modern Self

Paul Anderer

109

10. The Hero's Quest: A Bibliographic Essay

Elaine Hughes and Cynthia Gray lee

117

III. The Individual, the Family, and Society

11. "The World Was All Before Them": Coming of

Age in Ngfigi wa Thiong'o's Weep Not,

Child and J. D. Salinger's The Catcher

in the Rye

Steven Latham and Sandra Lott135

12. Cooper's Indians, Erdrich's Native Americans

Mary A. McCay152

13. The Individual, the Family, and Society: A

Bibliographic Essay

Elizabeth ii. Rodgers168

IV. Intertextuality and Cultural Identity:

Diversity in Related Texts

14. Crossing Cultural Bridges in Search of Drama:

Aristotle and Zeami

Andrew Parkin

181

15. Segregation in India: Forster's A Passage

to India and Anand's Untouchable

Usha Ahlawat

193

16. "The King Will Come": Laye Camara's Response

to Kafka's World Vision

Phanuel Egejuru

208

17. Carlos Fuentes's Tribute (and Reply) to

Ambrose Bierce in The Old Gringo: A Unique

Example of Inter-American Dialogue

Elizabeth Espadas

218
0vii

18. African American Renderings of Traditional

Texts

Neal Lester239

19. Politics and the Poet in Baraka's The Slave:

Turning and Turning in Yeats's Gyres

Maureen S. G. Hawkins254

20. Intertextuality and Cultural Identity:

A Bibliographic Essay

Maureen S. G. Hawkins264

V. Approaches to Chinua Achebe's Things Fall

Apart

21. Chinua Achebe: The Bicultural Novel and

the Ethics of Reading

Bruce Henricksen

293

22. If the Shoe Fits: Teaching Beowulf with

Achebe's Things Fall Apart

Liam Purdon and Julian Wasserman

311

23. An African Turnus: Heroic Response to

Colonialism in Vergil's Aeneid and

Achebe's Things Fall Apart

Norman McMillan

335

24. The Center Holds: The Resilience of Ibo

Culture in Things Fall Apart

Ndiawar San

347

25. Approaches to Things Fall Apart: A

Bibliographic Essay

John Lott and Sandra Lott

356

Appendix. Audiovisual Resources

369

Author Index

387

Subject Index

396

Editors

407

Contributors

409
8

Preface

This book is a collection of essays de ;igned for high school and college teachers who seek to introduce non-Western-and other non-canonical

texts into their traditional literature courses. The essays explore thekinds of shared visions and distinctive visions encountered when

teachers cluster Western texts with those outside the dominant Westerntradition. In addition, they suggest literary works appropriate for

students in high school and college as well as approaches to teaching these works. Most of the essays in this book are comparatist, but within this model there are a variety of approaches. Some essayists emphasize issues related to cross-cultural readings; some explore interrelationships between cultural and historical contexts, biography, and literary texts; some explore themes in works from diverse times and places. All of the essayists assume that to teach well we must, as J. Paul Hunter says, change our sense of what is appropriately read in the contem- porary classroom. The essays are by no means exhaustive in covering any one theory or approach to the revision of literature courses, nor are they intended to be rigidly prescriptive. As Sarah Lawall writes, "Only the instructor, in situ, can make appropriate choices: the number and kind of texts, the best translations, the amount and nature of contextual material,

the most thought-provoking sequences and juxtapositions, the selectionof issues most important to the audience, and the best method for

engaging the students' own worldviews in discussion of the material." Our essayists make suggestions about each of these areas of choice, bu,t interested teachers will want to go much further in exploring the possibilities offered by such choices. Our work on this book has been aided by numerous persons and

groups to whom we wish to express appreciation. The editors firstwish to acknowledge the help of our colleague Milton Foley, who

served as an editorial consultant at the beginning of this project. His

ideas were instrumental in bringing this project into being. We furtheracknowledge the support of our other colleagues in the English

department. 9 ix

Preface

We wish to thank the University of Montevallo for the sabbatical grant which supported some of the very first research on this project and to acknowledge the role of a series of seminars supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the role of the NEH Summer 1987 Institute on the Theory and Teaching of World Literature, both of which helped to guide our research in the early stages. We are also grateful to the University for a research grant which provided needed support during one year of the project. In addition, we wish to express our appreciation to the entire library staff of Carmichael Library at the University of Montevallo, and especially to reference librarians Patsy Sears and Diann Scales and to public services librarian

Pauline Williams.

We also especially thank Beth Oedamer, whose work as editorial assistant on this book has been invaluable. Our thanks go as well jo, Nicki Walker, whose clerical skills and knowledge of the computer have made the work on the book go much more smoothly. Sandra Ray, director of the Word Processing Center, Robert Lightfoot, director of College of Education Micro Computer Lab, and Sean Arrington, Deborah Berthelot, Laura Caldwell, and Tara Manson, departmental student assistants, have also provided valuable help. We acknowledge, finally, the guidance and assistance of Michael Spooner and his staff at the Department of Editorial Services at National

Council of Teachers of English.

Montevallo, Alabama

July 31, 1992.

0

Introductory Essays:

Toward

a NewDefinitionof World Literature The essays in this section explore the need for the expansion of literature programs to include a wider range of cultures and nation-

alities. Sarah Lawall discusses the history of world literature instructionand some of the theoretical and pedagogical issues facing today's

teachers. J. Paul Hunter considers the implications of changing liter-

ature programs for English departments and their curricula. SandraLott describes one way of restructuring literature courses through

thematic groupings of Western texts with texts which are outside the traditional Western canon. Her essay explores the difficulties and challenges as well as the opportunities for enrichment which accom- pany the process of bringing together works from diverse cultures. i i

1 World Literature in Context

Sarah Lawall

University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Formal instruction in world literature is a peculiarly American insti- tution. Other educational systems have international booklists, rec- ommended for classes or as part of general examinations. Only in the United States, however, has there been a systematic attempt to use a set of international literary texts as formal academic strategyan effort to educate citizens with mature minds able to compete "in the world." The widespread acceptance of the world literature course in the United States since the early decades of the twentieth century is all the more remarkable in the absence of a centralized national educational system.' The course as usually conceived combines two educational goals: the development of individual minds (the "world of the mind"), for which one needs the best ethical, intellectual, and aesthetic models, and a knowledge of other cultures (the world as geopolitical globe) which, by comparison, clarifies American national identity. The familiar course title, "Masterpieces of World Literature," correspondingly links both qualitative and quantitative criteria. The 1990 Report from the National Endowment for the Humanities preserves the traditional dual focus, calling for a return to "significant events and books" in "broad- based coursesWestern Civilization, for example, or Masterpieces of World Literature" (Cheney 1990, 32, 39). Critics have pointed out that the title "Masterpieces of World Literature" generally implies selected works from a Western, male-oriented, ethnocentric, and bourgeois canon (T. S. Eliot's "ideal order") that is far from representing world civilization. Indeed. the quantities of new information about peoples and cultures around the globe, as well as inside the United States, have made it impossible to teach the "old" masterpieces course without putting it into perspective. Much of the controversy of' the last three decades has come from a fertile clash between the concept of "mas- 1 2 3 4

Introductory Essays

terpieces" and the requirement of global representation: whose world is being represented? to whom? According to what models and standards of measurement? Clearly these are more than literary considerations. In educational policy alone, they overlap broader general education debates recurring throughout the century.' Beyond academia, they engage questions of national goals, self-image, and values. Such questions were not foreign to the originator of the term "world literature?' When Goethe proposed

Hi4diteratur in 1827 as a way to enhance international understanding,he had in mint, a play of refracted identities. Those who read the

literature of different nations would be conducting a tacit conversation with their counterparts in other cultures. Through the literary image, they would become aware of different national characters (and of their own) as so many separate personalities capable of neighborly under-

standing. Here is transactional analysis on a grand scale, with individualsfrom different cultures comprehending each otherand themselves

by reciprocal reading. Despite the differences of historical context, Goethe's emphasis on the exchange of cultural images still dominates

the academic practice of world literature. Such courses are not justliterature": they are distinguished from introductions to literature

precisely by their international reading lists and cross-cultural com- parisons. The specifically American academic tradition of world literature stems also from another and older curriculum: instruction in ancient texts (nct yet "great books") and in moral philosophy. Colonial edu-

cation adapted European classical training (something Samuel EliotMorison likened to "a course on the works of Aristotle, in Latin

translation") together with moral and religious instruction to prepare first a ministerial class and later the lawyers and businessmen who would be the leaders of society. This governing elite was to be guided by a shared philosophy based on a common course of studies empha- sizing grammar, logic, rhetoric, and natural and moral philosophy. Literature was not in itself a serious subject, and in fact a professor of Greek language at Princeton was forced to resign in 1846 for introducing commentary on Greek literature into his language courses (Rudolph

1977. 89-90). During the latter half of the century, however, theology

and the classical languages gradually lost their hold on Americaneducation and only the missionary spirit remained. In the radical

revision of the curriculum, scientific subjects became part of general education, electives replaced required courses, and the way opened for humanists to insist on the role of aesthetics and imaginative literature in shaping the mind. 3

World Literature in Context

5 The new humanistic curriculum recognized diverse categories of

knowledge, with the result that no one spherewhether biblical studyor classical textscould lay claim to a comprehensive perspective.Instead, this perspective was to be gained from a series of more

specialized views, offered in a list of books that represented a new scholastic canon of civilized thought. Charles Eliot's fifty-volume Har- vard Classics (1910) and the Hundred Great Books that later formed the basis of the degree program at St. John's University at Annapolis included, as the latter put it, "the great books of literature, history, mathematics, science, philosophy and religion" through which "the student . ..learns to be a free and responsible person" (Rosenberg

1954, 24). Charles Gayley began teaching a course in Great Books at

Berkeley in 1901 (Graff 1987, 134), and John Erskine developed an

enormously influential model at Columbia in 1919 as a general honorscourse beginning with Homer. The same social and moral purpose

pervaded both early classical education and the humanistic modelprovided by Great Books. This mission was part of the accepted

responsibility of education towards society at large,' and it continued to influence the way much world literature was taught, including the frequent equation of literary masterpieces with Great Books. A good example of the mixing of strands comes in World Literature and Its Place in General Culture (1911), written by Richard Green Moulton, professor of literature at the University of Chicago from 1892quotesdbs_dbs23.pdfusesText_29

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