This week, I have a lot of meandering thoughts about our readings, so I don't expect that my ideas will make too much logical sense, but I hope you get the spirit of my message.
I’ve tired to remove political biases from my teaching and research, but this seems impossible in view of Berlin’s history. English studies are entirely politicized. Even New Criticism, which takes great lengths to divorce itself from real world urgency, shows us that being nonpolitical is in fact political. But can we leave out the politics of our time and control how much they affect what we do?
Berlin seems to take New Critics to task for stepping out of the political arena. In the 1950s, he suggests that New Critics were scared of backlash from the very present red scare marching across the country. Were these New Critics cowards for not adopting a more radical approach to literature? Maybe. Maybe not. The politics of the time had to play some part in the longevity of New Criticism even if it stunted the progression that Berlin praises.
When I think of politics influencing English Studies now, I wonder what we’re taking up as major political issues of our day. It is pretty much assumed that people in our field are liberal. In our classes, diversity is very present—our World Literature section requires a balance of Western and Non-Western texts. We no longer just teach about “dead white men,” and we’re not allowed.
One specific issue that comes to mind: what about the urgent question of Western relations to the Arabic world? While we have comparative literature courses, I haven’t seen English departments offering Arabic literature—in translation, course—as part of the curriculum. Does that step out of the bounds of English? At the risk of sounding paranoid, what’s keeping the study of Arabic literature out and keeping American and British literature in?
From what I gather, we can describe what we're doing by also describing what we're not doing. And, if we can't escape politics, I wonder how we can be aware of them and use them effectively in our work.
