Summer Reads

Abstract

include the observation that it is Eurocentric. While this might have been true, “Eurocentric” is itself a category of diminishing returns because of its own vast omissions. Eastern and central European literatures hardly figured into that “Eurocentricism,” nor, for that matter, did a lot of “western” European literary traditions (Norwegian, Dutch, Belgian, etc.) This is why the euphemism “NATO literatures” came to be. These criticisms may be dour and a little heavy-handed, but they are not patently wrong. Starting with the local is a way of allaying some of these concerns, if for no other reason than the fact that students will be conscious of their cultural bearings and the ways these will inform how they read their way outward, like Wilson’s plays, toward and through the world. In the past three decades, the world has come to be characterized by prefixes like inter-, poly-, multi-, hetero-, trans-, etc. World literature should be at the forefront of unpacking these prefixes and confronting their social implications. World literature has to marshal the tools and dispensations of literary education for all students, especially those students entering business, the sciences, or law. Those students, no less than we who make our life’s work the reading and weaponizing of literature, will face the pitfalls of not possessing the cultural literacy literature can offer. World literature is neither an additive to the canon nor its abolition. It is a critical practice with targeted intellectual outcomes. It may not change the world, but it has the potential to reshape the way the world appears to a student. Teaching world literature does admittedly come with perils; it courts premature optimism by inviting students to trend toward “we’re all the same after all” based on what they feel to be universals in the texts they read. But this is only a beginning. If students feel that they can at least sense the Other—to “imagine precisely,” in the words of Amitav Ghosh—it can only lead to good things. Duquesne University summer reads WORLDLITERATURETODAY.ORG 55 World literature is neither an additive to the canon nor its abolition. It is a critical practice with targeted intellectual outcomes. With a toddler to parent, WLT’s book review editor, Rob Vollmar, isn’t anticipating being able to go much of anywhere this summer, so he’s relying on his summer reads to take him away. His list includes travelogues and historical fiction. György Spiró Captivity Trans. Tim Wilkinson Restless Books, 2015 This is the only book on my list that I plan to reread, for reasons well articulated by reviewer Michele Levy in this issue’s review section (page 99). This mammoth of a book was like a mash-up of I, Claudius and a really well-constructed openworld video game that I wanted never to end. The first half was so rich in detail (and light on plot) that I want to go back and soak it in, armed with the knowledge that the second half of the book explodes with action. Damien Wilkins Max Gate Aardvark Books, 2016 Oh, another novel about Thomas Hardy? Yes, please! Hot on the heels of Christopher Nicholson’s excellent Winter comes this examination of Hardy’s final days from New Zealand writer Damien Wilkins. Told from the perspective of Hardy’s housemaid, Max Gate looks at the struggle between the literati and the family over the future of Hardy’s past. David H. Mould Postcards from Stanland: Journeys in Central Asia Ohio University Press, 2016 Mould has done the world a huge favor by traveling extensively throughout the ’Stans of Central Asia and capturing the history and flavor of each one in written form. I look forward to wandering the steppes along with him and learning more about the world’s most elusive region. ...