A presentation by David Gramling, Associate Professor, University of Arizona German Studies Department
Since Goethe and Marx in the 19th century, people have been thinking about what it would mean to have, read, write, and teach “world literature.” Whose world and what kind of world counts? Whose language, style, ideas, and truths? Ori-ented toward the experiences of working educators, this talk shares the process and endeavor of building a new course on world literature in 2018. How is the idea, the ideal, and the practicability of world literature changing before our very eyes? How can we engage with it responsibly? What are the limitations of any ed-ucational endeavor that seeks to countenance “the world” in a digital, global age? How are these questions indicative of some of the paradigmatic challenges edu-cators face in Arizona today?
This free and public lecture is sponsored by the University of Arizona Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Center for Latin American Studies, and Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language and Literature.