National literatures as Intimate Expression and the Problem of Teaching World Literatures

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture ISSN 1481-4374 Purdue University Press ©Purdue University Volume 15 (2013) Issue 6 Article 2 Nation ional al lit liteeratur tures es aass IInntim imaate EExxpr pres ession sion aand nd the PPrroble oblem m of T Teeachin chingg W Wor orld ld Lit Liteeratur tures es Kett ettee Thom Thomaas Michigan Technological University Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb Part of the American Studies Commons, Comparative Literature Commons, Education Commons, European Languages and Societies Commons, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Other Arts and Humanities Commons, Other Film and Media Studies Commons, Reading and Language Commons, Rhetoric and Composition Commons, Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons, Television Commons, and the Theatre and Performance Studies Commons Dedicated to the dissemination of scholarly and professional information, Purdue University Press selects, develops, and distributes quality resources in several key subject areas for which its parent university is famous, including business, technology, health, veterinary medicine, and other selected disciplines in the humanities and sciences. CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture, the peer-reviewed, full-text, and open-access learned journal in the humanities and social sciences, publishes new scholarship following tenets of the discipline of comparative literature and the field of cultural studies designated as "comparative cultural studies." Publications in the journal are indexed in the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (Chadwyck-Healey), the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (Thomson Reuters ISI), the Humanities Index (Wilson), Humanities International Complete (EBSCO), the International Bibliography of the Modern Language Association of America, and Scopus (Elsevier). The journal is affiliated with the Purdue University Press monograph series of Books in Comparative Cultural Studies. Contact: <> Recommended Citation Thomas, Kette. "National literatures as Intimate Expression and the Problem of Teaching World Literatures." 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This journal is covered under the CC BY-NC-ND license. UNIVERSITY PRESS <http://www.thepress.purdue.edu> CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture ISSN 1481-4374 <http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb> Purdue University Press ©Purdue University CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture, the peer-reviewed, full-text, and open-access learned journal in the humanities and social sciences, publishes new scholarship following tenets of the discipline of comparative literature and the field of cultural studies designated as "comparative cultural studies." In addition to the publication of articles, the journal publishes review articles of scholarly books and publishes research material in its Library Series. Publications in the journal are indexed in the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (Chadwyck-Healey), the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (Thomson Reuters ISI), the Humanities Index (Wilson), Humanities International Complete (EBSCO), the International Bibliography of the Modern Language Association of America, and Scopus (Elsevier). The journal is affiliated with the Purdue University Press monog-raph series of Books in Comparative Cultural Studies. Contact: <> Volume 15 Issue 6 (December 2013) Article 2 Kette Thomas, National literatures as Intimate Expression and the Problem of Teaching World Literatures <http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol15/iss6/2> Contents of CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 15.6 (2013) Special Issue New Work about World Literatures Ed. Graciela Boruszko and Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek <http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol15/iss6/> Abstract: In her article "National Literatures as Intimate Expression and the Problem of Teaching World Literatures" Kette Thomas analyzes the fundamental tension embedded in the discourse on teaching world literatures. Thomas focuses on models which contextualize the problem around the subject of allegiance either to the reader or the author rather than the commonly limited geographical, national, and politically defined complex. Focus on the reader or author is often made at the expense of the "other," but it is the tension and communication between them that offers possibilities for the development of the discipline of comparative literature (against Eurocentrism and the nation approach) and the fields of world literatures and comparative cultural studies. Kette Thomas, "National Literatures as Intimate Expression and the Problem of Teaching World Literatures" page 2 of 10 CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 15.6 (2013): <http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol15/iss6/2> Special Issue New Work about World Literatures. Ed. Graciela Boruszko and Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek Kette THOMAS National literatures as Intimate Expression and the Problem of Teaching World Literatures During the 2011 ACLA: American Comparative Literature Association David Damrosch and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak sparred about the role of world literatures in a comparative literature context. At the heart of their debate, it seems to me that Damrosch sought to protect the reader while Spivak was engaged in protecting the writer and thereby the reader by extension who engages literatures which are or are not part of their national heritage. Educators face the challenge of deciding how to combine the local with the global using the most appropriate methodology in order to provide the best approaches for students who are studying world literatures. I engage in this debate including other theorists' perspectives and my own reflections in order to advance the discussion. In "What Is Literature For?" Tzvetan Todorov describes his reading "maturity" in detail beginning with those early years before the intervention of formal education: "As far back as I can remember, I see myself surrounded by books. Both of my parents were professional librarians; there were always too many books in our house … I quickly learned to read and began to devour classic stories in children's versions: The Arabian nights, the tales of Grimm and Andersen, Tom Sawyer, Oliver Twist and Les Misérables" (13). Todorov describes a childhood wherein words on a page engulfed his imagination with limited, if any, obstructions. Thus, he says he learned to "love reading," the inevitable conse (...truncated)