世界英文文學 印度 加勒比海 地區 南非 Spring, 2005 Kate Liu 種族 & 性別議題

Outline What are “World Literatures in English”?World Literatures in English Main Concerns: (de-)colonization; migration; identity Main Concerns(de-)colonizationmigration identity Difficulties and Relevance

Two kinds of misunderstanding -- “English” literature and World literature (A related one: the U.S. = ‘America’) Definition: literatures written in English in 1.) the U.S. and U.K., and in 2.) the English-speaking countries in areas ranging from Africa, South Asia, South-East Asia, East Asia (e.g. Hong Kong), South Pacific area (e.g. Australia & New Zealand), the Caribbean area, to North America (e.g. Canada). Other Names: postcolonial (Third World) literature in English, New English literatures, or english literatures. (see course intro; a map.)course intromap What are World Literatures in English?

Mapping World Literatures in English

World Literatures in English: Major Concerns 1. (De-)Colonization(De-)Colonization 2. Migration, DiasporaMigration, Diaspora 3. Identity + Language, Nation, Racial & GenderIdentity

What do you think about these two images? ( 中正紀念堂〉，《台北謠言》阮義忠先生 攝 慈湖 Two significant images in the history Taiwan’s colonization or democratization?

What is it? Colonization= one nation’s exploitation, control and possession of another nation on the levels of culture, politics and economy. e.g. Slavery and Racism World Literatures in English Major Concerns (1) Colonization

World Literatures in English Image source: 1. slave ship; 2. biological determinism Identity and Difference 323 & 308 Major Concerns (1): Explicit Colonization Slavery & Racism

History of European Colonization in Brief – Beginning From exploration to trade and invasion/settlement. Or economic  military/political  cultural. Columbus’s ‘discovery’ – 1492 (Before him, some Vikings.)   One in three of the indigenous population of Hispaniola were dead within two years of Columbus’s arrival;   In 30 years they had all been wiped out. (causes: disease, torture, imprisonment and mass suicide Walder 25) Example of criticism: Gulliver’s TravelsGulliver’s Travels

For Reference: Gulliver ’ s Travels Chapter 39 [Gulliver, towards the end of his adventures, hesitates to inform the government of his discoveries, because]  “that enlargement typically involves a crew of pirates...driven by a storm they know not whither... They go on shore to rob and plunder, they see an harmless people, they take formal possession of it for the king... Ships are sent with the first opportunity, the natives driven out of destroyed, their princes tortured to discover their gold.” “The first colonization of North American by English- speaking settlers in the early 17th century was contemporaneous with the far larger settlement of Ireland by Scottish Presbyterians, with the aim of ‘reducing to civility’ the indigenous, Gaelic speaking Catholic people.” (Walder 33)

History of European Colonization in Brief – 1800 – “European laid claim to more than half the world’s land surface, and, in varying degree, controlled a third.” (26) –with their traders, missionaries and merchants. The British colonization:  Mid 19th century: the U.K. conquered ¼ of the world.  Turning Point: The Indian Mutiny 1857 (end of the East India Company).  Culmination: Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee  The people of the Empire fought for the U.K. in the World Wars.  Decline: from Empire to Commonwealth (1912 South Africa; 1931 Canada, Ireland, etc.; 1947 India; Caribbean nations 1950’s and 1960’s).

Major Concerns (1): Effects of Colonization Unequal Power Relations  caused by racism and based on colonial interest.  between different cultures, men and women, the colonizer and the colonized, the haves and have-nots, etc..   colonial identities. World Literatures in English

Dominance and narrow definitions of English and Eng. Literature  white man’s burden;  British and U.S. literatures as the core of English department.  e.g. India’s learning of Bible and then English Literature  un-examined acceptance of their values and biases. World Literatures in English Major Concerns (1): Implicit/Cultural Colonization

Five kinds of Diaspora:   Victim(e.g. Jews, Africans, Armenians),   Labour (e.g. Indian, Chinese),   Trade (e.g. Chinese and Lebanese),   Imperial (e.g. the British),  Cultural diasporas. Source: Global Diaspora: An Introduction ix World Literatures in English Major Concerns (2): Migration and Diaspora

Migration  Connecting different parts of the world 1. The need for slaves gets stronger as there are more plantations in central and south Americas; 2. Abolishment of slave trade in 1807, and slavery in 1834  indentured Indian and Chinese laborers to West Indies; 3. In the South African War ( ) between the Dutch settlers and the British colonizers (with Indians joining the war). 4. Multiple migration: e.g. Chinese/Indian  the Caribbean  U.K  Canada or the U.S.

1. Race/Class relations among the colonized (e.g. India’s Caste system) 2. Race/Gender relations between Colonizers and the Colonized – n Wide Sargasso Sea and Foe 3. Influenced and challenged by colonization and (multiple) migration  e.g. multiculturalism & double identity (e.g. “What is Worth Knowing”) 4. Asserting one’s Identity thru’  Language, Literature and Cultural Distinctness (e.g. Narayan) World Literatures in English Major Concerns (III): Identity --Who am “ I ” ?

Identity and Language e.g. My Fair Lady.My Fair Lady 1. Class distinction  language distinction. Class: “ I'm a respectable girl: so help me, I never spoke to him 'cept so far as to buy a flower off me.” Language: “Look at her: a prisoner of the gutter, Condemned by every syllable she utters, By right she should be taken out and hung, For the cold-blooded murder of the English tongue.”

Exemplary view of “ Standard English ” An Englishman’s way of speaking absolutely classifies him. The moment he talks, he makes some other Englishman despise him. One common language I’m afraid we’ll never get. Oh why can’t the English learn to— [paying for his coffee] Set a good example to people, who’s English, is painful to your ears. The Scotch and the Irish leave you close to tears! There are even places where English completely disappears, [receives his change] Why, in America they haven’t used it for years.

Difficulties 1. Language  englishes 2. Culture and History 3. Some “Postcolonial” Styles Relevance Chinese Diaspora and Taiwan’s experience of multiple colonization World Literatures in English: Possible Difficulties & Relevance

References Walder, Dennis. Post-Colonial Literatures in English: History, Language, Theory. Blackwell Pub (April 1, 1998).