Why?

(For a short definition of World Literatures in English, please look at our course description.  Or go to Introduction to Postcolonial Studies--remote at Emory U.--for a longer description of postcolonial studies.)

1. They are great: There has been resistance to the challenges to the canon posed by World Literatures in English.  (Some might argue that Shakespeare, or Milton, or Spenser, after all, is still the best.)  Without denying the values of these canonical figures, we believe that World Literatures in English also have masterpieces which had been and might still have been ignored without postcolonialist consciousness in the readers or in some departments.

As an English major (whether with a focus on literature or on linguistics), we need to study British and American literatures so that we have in-depth knowledge of their cultures and their histories.  However, so many other places and nations use "english" as their official language (and/or native language), and so many other "english" literatures have been written.   De-centeringthe British and U.S. literatures (but not replacing them with another center) is necessary, so that we can be led to the many english literary worlds and their cultures.
 
2.   They are relevant to us: Colonialism is not the thing of the past; nor are these literatures foreign to us.

Most of the major themes and issues in this field concern us in Taiwan.  For instance,
 
• (de-)colonization: Does Taiwan succeed in constructing its own identity after the multiple colonization by Holland, Spain, Japan, the U.S. and under the neo-colonial powers of the U.S. and Japan?  (e.g. the stories by 黃春明；the films 《無言的山丘》、《無卵頭家》、《超級大國民》、《太平天國》Bhadha Bless America)、《匪諜大亨》，and so many other texts.)

 
• cultural/national identity: What kinds of cultural identities do Taiwanese have?  How are they different from the Chinese diaspora in the other parts in the world?  (e.g. 《春光乍洩》、《三個女人的故事》《甜蜜蜜》《愛在他鄉的季節》《春光乍洩》vs. many novels such as 〈魚骸〉、平路〈台灣奇蹟〉〈玉米田之死〉；張大春〈將軍碑〉、〈四喜憂國〉；林燿德《高砂百合》  and such films as 《悲情城市》、《青少年哪吒》、《只要為你活一天》、《望鄉》． )

 
• gender and race: Orientalism.   How have Taiwanese women suffered from the colonizers' rape （慰安婦）, or from double victimization by both patriarchy and colonialism （李昂〈戴貞操帶的魔鬼〉《迷園》）?  How have Taiwanese women  assert themselves against both?  （平路 《行路天涯》）

 
3. They are eye-openers!  They broaden our perspectives on ourselves and about the human world(s).

Sharing similar concerns, the different regions in the field of World Literatures in English have their cultural and historical distinctness.  If learning a language means entering a world, then learning these exemplary texts from this enormous field initiates us to take a journey into many worlds.

1. Approach the text, feel its emotions and art directly while trying to find out more about its contexts through searching on the Internet.

 

 

Context matters.  For instance,
-- socio-historical: (Wide Sargasso Sea) without knowning the complicated post-emancipation history in the Caribbean area or the conflicts between the English island (Jamaica) and French island (Martinique), we will not be able to fully understand Annette's sense of constraint in Jamaica, nor Antoinette's extreme sense of isolation.

-- socio-historical: (Salaam Bombay!)  the knowledge of the poverty and ghetto problems in Bombay, and especially the fact that the film is played by some street kids, will add to our sympathy for the characters in the film and Bombay society.  On the other hand, reading about the present Bombay on some websites ( Images of Bombay; or The Bombay pages) can offer us a broader view of Bombay and thus help us avoiding unnecessary pitying, with the understanding that the discrepancies between the haves and have-nots is still a big problem there.

-- authorial: the fact that "The Concubine's Children" is written by the concubine's grand-daughter (Denise Cheong) makes us feel the impact of this family tragedy.
 

2. Be sensitive to the range of possible issues; examine how the text is engaged in these issues, and then engage yourself criticallly.  (See more extended lists in final exam 2000, 1999, 1998)

 
Some possible issues are:
• I. Colonization and De-Colonization
• Colonization and Gender--
• Language and Postcolonial Resistance --
•  II. Children's Growth and Family Relationships in (Post-)Colonial society
• III. Immigrants' cultural and Gender Identity
• IV. Cultural distinctness and Cultural syncreticism
• Caste and internal migrants in the Indian texts
• voodoo, Krik? Krak!, abeng, Calypso and Reggae in the Caribbean area
• The role of "family" in "Chinese," "Korean" or "Japanese" immigrant society.

 
  To use Language and Postcolonial Resistance as an example, some points may possibly made:  
1. Power relations happen not only between different nations or peoples, but also between different languages.  Being able to use/write a certain language means being in a position of power.  For instance,
• In Taiwan, there was a period of time when speaking in Taiwanese would get one punished, and Taiwanese Chinese is a sign of crudity and lack of education.  Nowadays, the table turns and Taiwanese Chinese (such as that of our president's) becomes a sign of endearment.
• In both Narayan's "Anamalai" and Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay, the protagonists (Anamalai and Krishna's case) are both illiterate.  Not being able to write creates a problem for their attempts at being connected with their family.  The Sweet Sixteen's inability to speak Hindi makes her even more powerless.
• In the case of Double Happiness, the use of subtitles distinguish Jade's family from Brady Bunch's.  

 
2. The use of language--as well as one's names-- is related to one's cultural identity.
• In Double Happiness and "Prey," different generations of Chinese or Korean immigrants speak English differently.  The one who is most adept at it is Pearl, who likes to tell jokes in English.
• In the hunting episode of Michelle Cliff's Abeng, Clare speaks in standard English when she has to defend herself.
• In Obasan, Stephen is a hybrid identity though he does not want it this way. (Stephen's "sonuva bitch"; or "golden sonuva bitch")

 
3. Postcolonial resistance: Closely related to the character/author's cultural identity is their (the authors' and teh characters') ways to resist colonial influences.

(Here on this page "Language", there is a theoretical discussion of some postcolonial writers' different views about the use of language.)
• using one's native language: e.g. insistance on the use of Taiwanese in some political occasions; the large part of Indian literature (written in Urdu, Hindi, etc.) which is inaccessible to us.
• mixing the languages:
• Rushdie: the combination of Babu English with standard English in The Midnight's Children; 
• The oral/dub poetry in Rude; 
• changing the language:
• The children in The God of Small Things reverse the English words for fun;
• the use of literary language and forms:
the use of irony: the word "Consumate" in "Christopher Columbus and Queen Isabella of Spain Consummate Their Relationship"
• the use of letters as a lit. form; (Obasan and "The Concubine's Children")

symbol: the English house as a card board house towards the end of The Wide Sargasso Sea
• many other narrative skills, including Rushdie's associative narrative which develop through motifs; Abeng's "small-plot" narrative, etc.