What Globalization: Whither Literature (1)

Prafulla Kumar Mohanty

Globalization is a much hyped term lost in ambiguities. When you think of literature in the Age of Globalization the ambiguities lapse into confusion. One may ask in all sincerity : Is there an Age of Globalization? If the answer is yes, when did it begin? For the sake of argument one may say, it began in 1827. On 31^st January 1827 one of the greatest literary names in world literature Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe ruminated, “National literature is now at hand and everyone must strive to hasten its approach”. And he also added ‘if we really want a pattern, we must always return to the ancient Greeks, in whose works the beauty of mankind is constantly represented. All the rest we must look at only historically; appropriating to ourselves what is good so far as it goes'. In this sense the beginning of Globalization of literature can be traced back to the Greeks. Speaking to a Calcutta audience in 1907 Rabindranath Tagore has said : ‘Our goal is to view universal humanity in universal literature by freeing ourselves from rustic uncatholicity’. In the colonial and post colonial times a feeble effort was definitely made to establish a  global tradition of literature highlighting the literature of the East mainly to counter the language and literature of the colonial masters, that is to say to undermine the overarching  influence of English literature. The desire to create a ‘One World reality’; however, could not take off as the local and regional identities could not assimilate human diversity in any meaningful way. If it was to be all inclusive the idea of a universal library was built into it. But ill conceived as it was, it became difficult to give it form, shape and validity. In the absence of a system of evaluation of national literatures from a borderless world perspective, a universal library is effete. There are libraries, particularly the Library of Congress in America which stock and stack books of other nations. But no sense of world literature or universal humanity emerges as translations of these works into English often take away the local flavour and anglicize them, thereby dissuading the non- English readers into indifference.

The idea of one world has never been nor can ever be a reality. Geography, climate, economic conditions, political situations and also religious compulsions will make the people different. Mankind is one, at best, is a poetic statement but as we advance in time each human being is a separate mankind. Think for yourself, is the new humanist education which means contain the universe within yourself. Hence a  literature representing mankind as a whole is unthinkable. National governments too experience this difficulty of making laws for a country. Each human being has his/ her world view, national identity and social configuration.  All efforts, therefore, to create a world literature of man have not succeeded till date. International conferences and comparative accounts of literatures never arrive at a global view of man. Africa, India, the Muslim countries are so diverse and deviant from each other that to place their literatures on the same platform with the literary west is too idealistic to be practical. After the second world war when decolonization happened a new reality emerged. All decolonized countries in the way of political freedom suddenly tried to rewrite their history as a continuous process leading up to a national identity. The colonial times were treated as veritable aberrations. Scholars in all the decolonized countries tried to make the past their present.  Their desire to showcase their identity as unique had built in elements of intellectual isolation.  A non- compromising self esteem forced them to an unacknowledged spiritual alienation. …(to be continued)