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Global Matters: the Transnational Turn in Literary Studies Global Matters The Transnational Turn in Literary Studies Paul Jay Cornell University Press Ithaca and London Copyright © 2010 by Cornell University All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. First published 2010 by Cornell University Press First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 2010 Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Jay, Paul, 1946– Global matters : the transnational turn in literary studies / Paul Jay. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8014-4900-0 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8014-7607-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Commonwealth fi ction (English)—History and criticism. 2. Literature, Comparative—Commonwealth (English) and English. 3. Literature, Comparative—English and Commonwealth (English). 4. Literature, Comparative—Commonwealth (English) and American. 5. Literature, Comparative—American and Commonwealth (English). 6. Transnationalism in literature. 7. Globalization in literature. 8. Multi- culturalism in literature. 9. Literature and globalization. I. Title. PR9084J39 2010 809—dc22 2010005687 Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable-based, low-VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonwood fi bers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu. Cloth printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Paperback printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For my parents, Lester and Midge Jay Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction: The Transnational Turn in Literary Studies 1 Part One: Globalization and the Study of Literature 1. Difference, Multiculturalism, and the Globalizing of Literary Studies 15 2. What Is Globalization? 33 3. Economies, Cultures, and the Politics of Globalization 53 4. Border Studies: Remapping the Locations of Literary Study 73 Part Two: Globalization in Contemporary Literature 5. Post–Postcolonial Writing in the Age of Globalization: The God of Small Things, Red Earth and Pouring Rain, Moth Smoke 95 viii Contents 6. Globalization and Nationalism in Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss 118 7. The Cultural Politics of Development in Zakes Mda’s The Heart of Redness 137 8. Multiculturalism and Identity in Zadie Smith’s White Teeth 154 9. Transnational Masculinities in Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao 176 Conclusion 195 Notes 201 Works Cited 215 Index 225 Acknowledgments Global Matters: The Transnational Turn in Literary Studies had its genesis in a paper on border studies and globalization I gave at the Modern Language As- sociation convention in San Francisco in 1998 that crystallized in an essay on globalization and the future of literary studies that appeared in PMLA in 2001 and then evolved during the next few years in lectures at Pennsylvania State University, Lewis University, Texas Tech University, and in conference papers delivered in Rome, Honolulu, Washington DC, New Orleans, Milwaukee, and elsewhere. I want to thank the many people who attended those lectures for their keen attention, probing questions, and constructive feedback. My book would not have taken intelligent shape without those lively discussions. Of course books like this are not just the product of solitary research and writ- ing. More often than not, they evolve in the classroom, out of the give-and-take we have with our students. I have been blessed to teach at an institution, Loyola University Chicago, that not only values scholarship but understands and fa- cilitates the crucial link between original research and successful undergraduate and graduate teaching. The material in this book has grown out of free-wheeling discussions I have had with my students in courses about the impact of globaliza- tion on literature and its study at a variety of levels. I owe a debt of gratitude to x Acknowledgments those students, to my university, and to the English department, where I have been given the opportunity to teach a range of experimental courses connected to my research and to engage my students in wide-ranging discussions of virtually every topic and text covered in this book. My chairpersons during this period, Suzanne Gossett, Timothy Austin, Frank Fennell, and Joyce Wexler, have been incredibly supportive and I want to thank them. A university research leave in the spring of 2006 proved indispensible to fi nishing an early draft of this book, and I thank the university very much for its support. I also want to thank the Fulbright Program for a grant that allowed me to travel to India for fi ve weeks with a group of scholars in the summer of 2008, a trip that dramatically affected my understanding of the impact of globaliza- tion in developing countries. Particular thanks go to Madhuri Deshmukh and Katherine Schuster for writing the grant and organizing the trip and to Ran- jith Henry, our fabulous guide in India. He turned out to be an extraordinarily knowledgeable companion during my weeks there, and I learned much in my discussions with him. Finally, one’s intellectual life grows out of one’s engage- ment with friends and colleagues, in conversation, argument, and laughter. I want to thank, in particular, Harveen Sachdeva Mann for being such a won- derful friend and helping me over the years to gain a deeper, if tentative and evolving, understanding of India, its history, culture, people, and literature. I also want to thank Badia Ahad, Jay Boersma, Suzanne Bost, Pamela Caughie, David Chinitz, Deborah Holdstein, Steve Jones, Tom Kaminski, David Kaplan, Anil Lal, Mary Mackay, Nasrin Qader, and Edward Wheatley for their friendship and support. I have also benefi ted from my conversations and correspondence with two extraordinary writers, Aravind Adiga and Junot Díaz, from whom I have learned much. Special thanks go to Ross Miller, my partner in half-wittery and sneak-outs, whose knowledge and brilliance have kept me in competitive shape for over twenty-fi ve years. During the time I have been at work on this project I have benefi ted from the support, encouragement, and intelligence of my family, who made this book in its present form possible. My wonderful, indefatigable, and vibrant mother, Midge Jay, passed away just months before this book was fi nished. I miss her terribly and hope this book stands as a tribute to her marvelous spirit and intel- lectual energy. We all owe our mothers our lives, but she was something special. I cannot imagine life without my two wonderful brothers, Criss and Greg. Their love and support has been of incalculable value, but I have benefi ted enor- mously, as well, from our conversations about literature, art, culture, and politics, and much of what I have learned from them has found its way into this book. Many readers will be familiar with Gregory Jay’s work on American literature and multiculturalism. The quality of his books and essays speak for themselves. Acknowledgments xi His great intelligence and critical and theoretical savvy has been a secret weapon of mine for many, many years, and thanking him enough is just not possible. Criss Jay is an extraordinarily gifted poet and musician whose eloquence, in- tellect, and music are well known to his students, friends, fellow writers, and readers. I have been blessed to spend countless hours in conversations with him, especially about the literature and culture of the Southwest, conversations that have contributed enormously to the quality of this book. I thank him with all my heart for his love and his indispensible intellectual and moral support. My wife and companion for over thirty years, Lynn Woodbury, has been un- failing in her love and support during the years I have been working on this book, years in which she has been chairing her own department of English at Oakton Community College in Des Plaines, Illinois. I cannot imagine life with- out her as my partner, both as a companion and co-parent, and as an intellectual friend whose wise advice and sound ideas have been invaluable. It is impossible to express fully my love and gratitude to her. Our son, Darren, has grown from a teenager into a young man while I wrote this book, and I am so proud to be his father. His intelligence, wit, and exquisite sense of taste are a marvel. His pitch-perfect riffs on all things related to popular culture have entertained and educated me, and it is simply a joy to have him in my life. Finally, I want to thank my editor at Cornell University Press, Peter J. Pot- ter, who saw a book in the jumble of pages I initially sent him and did a brilliant job teasing it out and helping to give it shape. This book would not be what it is without his wise editorial suggestions (and, of course, whatever failings it might have are my own). He’s been a dream editor. I also want to express my gratitude to the two very astute readers for Cornell, Susan Stanford Friedman and Sanjay Krishnan, who were so encouraging but also full of smart suggestions for im- proving the manuscript. Scattered parts of this book previously appeared in the journals PMLA, Ari- zona Quarterly, Ariel, American Literary History, and the book Globalization and the Humanities: Field Imaginaries, Virtual Worlds, and Emergent Sensibilities, ed- ited by David Leiwei Li, Hong Kong University Press. I am grateful to each for permission to reprint. Introduction The Transnational Turn in Literary Studies Since the rise of critical theory in the 1970s, nothing has reshaped literary and cultural studies more than its embrace of transnationalism.
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