CS 214 040 AUTHOR TITLE Global Perspectives on Teaching
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 361 745 CS 214 040 AUTHOR Lott, Sandra Ward, Ed.; And Others TITLE Global Perspectives on Teaching Literature: Shared Visions and Distinctive Visions. INSTITUTION National 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 TYPE Books (010) Collected Works General (020) -- Guides Non-Classroom Use (055) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC17 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Cross Cultural Studies; *Figurative Language; Foreign Countries; *Global Approach; Higher Education; High Schools; *Literary Criticism; *Literary Styles; Literature Appreciation; Non Western Civilization IDENTIFIERS Aesthetic 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: "World Literature 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,:es of 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 TraditionalTexts" (N. Lester); "Politics and the Poet in Baraka's 'TheSlave': Turning and Turning 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' withAchebe'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 // BESTCOPY AVAILABLE--- 1 =4.' I - U $ DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS Office of EducattonsI Research and Improvement MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 1.--..--... it,This document has been reproduced as 1) received from the person or organization ongtnating it C Minor changes have been made to improoe reproduction ouahty \ .,-.... ,..-- Points of view or opmons slated Sri trns &rot., TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES ment do not neCessanlv represent offic.at \ OERI pOsIbort Or ()oho, INFORMATION CENTER (ERICI." \ College Section Committee Cynthia Selfe, Chair Michigan Technological University Lil Brannon SUNY at Albany Doris 0. Ginn, CCCC Representative Jackson State University Miriam T. Chaplin Rutgers University Brenda M. Greene Medgar Evers College, CUNY Jeanette Harris University of Southern Mississippi Tom Waldrep University of South Carolina Tilly Warnock University of Arizona, Tucson James Raymond, ex officio University of Alabama 1-1. Thomas McCracken, CEE Representative Youngstown State University Louise Smith, ex officio University of Massachusetts at Boston James C. Davis, Executive Committee Liaison Ohio 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 endorsement by the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, or the membership at large, 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 and distinctive visions / edited by Sandra Ward Lott, Maureen S.G. Hawkins, Norman McMillan. p.cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8141-1854-2 1. LiteratureStudy and teaching (Higher)United States. I. Lott, Sandra Ward.IL Hawkins, Maureen S. G.III. McMillan, Norman. PN70.G571993 809dc20 93-4917 CIP Contents c 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 51 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 65 6. Private Worlds: A Bibliographic Essay Sarah Palmer 77 , II. The Hero's Quest 7. Heroic Visions in The Bhagavad Gita and the Western Epic Milton Foley 89 v 6 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 Lott 135 12. Cooper's Indians, Erdrich's Native Americans Mary A. McCay 152 13. The Individual, the Family, and Society: A Bibliographic Essay Elizabeth ii. Rodgers 168 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 vii 18. African American Renderings of Traditional Texts Neal Lester 239 19. Politics and the Poet in Baraka's The Slave: Turning and Turning in Yeats's Gyres Maureen S. G. Hawkins 254 20. Intertextuality and Cultural Identity: A Bibliographic Essay Maureen S. G. Hawkins 264 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 0 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 the kinds of shared visions and distinctive visions encountered when teachers cluster Western texts with those outside the dominant Western tradition. 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.