BOOK REVIEW: English Studies Beyond the ‘Center’: Teaching Literature and the Future of Global English

Abstract

In the world of globalized English, the focus is more on learning practical skills of language than on language as a tool for expression. This concentration has marginalized English literary studies. The very little scholarship on teaching English literature either does not come from within the discipline or is not generally targeted at an EFL context. English Studies Beyond the ‘Center’ offers a long-awaited take on the why and how of teaching English literature in an EFL context from the perspective of a literature specialist. The volume is an attempt to address three interdependent issues: the place of English literature education in the world of globalized English studies, the main goal behind teaching literature as part of English studies and the way literature is taught. Indeed it seeks to “make a case for literary study in this expanded, essential, globalized English studies” (p. 1). As a Canadian educated in North America and a professor teaching in Japanese universities, Myles Chilton brings in his educational backgrounds from the ‘center’ of English studies and his experiences of teaching literature from universities ‘beyond the center’ to this book, making it very useful for people who are involved in teaching English literature especially in an EFL context.