Critical Paper #2 Assignment: due May 6th by 5pm

Critical Paper #2: To Form and Inform

“Education, sahib, is one hell of a thing.” (Naipaul, The Mystic Masseur)

For your second Critical Paper, and basically your final exam, I want you to explore the idea we wrote about in class: Does the West have the right to “educate” the East? Can a “new” culture teach an “old” culture how to act? All the writers in the second half of class (including Akutagawa) are using Western “education” to write about their Non-Western worlds. Through the novel, short story, or the English language, they are teaching the West about their cultures and teaching their own culture to ‘see’ their respective problems. Every book has a didactic element, which means its ability to teach, instruct, and spread the author’s personal view of the world. How didactic are these works? How much do they want to save, criticize, explain, or explore their native traditions within the context of Western forms and voices?

As you explore this theme, consider some of the following ideas:

• How do the writers try to justify certain Eastern ways of thought and life?
• Do they criticize the West or ultimately come out in favor of it?
• Do they look at the West as a savior, or a necessary evil?
• Is writing in English (or Western forms) a concession of ‘defeat’? Is it a rejection of more traditional forms and modes of storytelling?
• Are they telling old stories in new ways, or new stories in old ways?
• Is being an author itself a Western occupation? Is a novel? Does it translate the “East” out of the book?
• Do the authors ever make apologies for their culture? Or outright ridicule it?
• Do the heroes recognizably Western? Or do they follow Eastern morals and values?
• How do they present Eastern spiritual beliefs and religion? Are these translated “truthfully” or through a Western lens (remember Naipaul’s crack about Hindus?).
• Are there certain ideas/characters that the authors refuse to translate? In what way are these works untranslatable?

REQUIREMENTS

• Use at least 2 works from class in your discussion, and quote from each one significantly. Find passages that really speak to your conversation and ideas.
• Find 2-3 secondary sources that help you discuss the works and their context: these could be articles on the authors, their cultures, religions, literature, etc. I’ll share a few articles with you in class and on the blog.
• Cite all quotations according to MLA or another format, but be consistent.
• Due on our Final Exam day, Friday, May 6^th at 5pm