Fathers and sons in world literature

Bing Yan, Purdue University

Abstract

World literature, according to David Damrosch, is "writing that gains in translation" (288). Literary texts, unlike informative texts, either gain or lose in translation. A text that gains can have a life beyond national literature. For students, world literature often consists of texts listed on the syllabi. The study of world literature, therefore, inevitably faces a number of issues regarding translation and text selection. While ideally everyone should learn more languages, in practice we are often limited by our own knowledge, both linguistically and culturally. Scholars have cautioned us that comparative reading can often miss the real complexity and peculiarity of a work in favor of the so called universalities. Some even go as far as claiming comparison as violence against the other. However, to discard comparison as a whole would be counter-productive. There are different ways to teach world literature. What is important, especially given the declining desire to read among students these days, is to find an approach that helps the student develop a spontaneous response, foster an interest and form a habit of reading. In this thesis, I use one topic, namely the father-son relationship, to tie together a group of texts ranging from Ancient Greek epics to young adult novels, and try to examine how that often problematic relationship is depicted by various authors from different areas and time periods, in the hope that a readily accessible topic like this would generate the students' interest and provide them with a starting point for further discussions.

Degree

M.A.

Advisors

Ross, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Comparative literature

COinS