Literature to Combat Cultural Chauvinism:
A Response

Shivani Jha


The first question that arises here is, “Can we ever be objective in our understanding of social phenomena?“ In his essay “Fiction, or the Purposes of Historical Statements“ John Lukacs debates the extent to which “supposed“ facts are factual; how “accurate“ are these “facts?“ Lukacs maintains that association is preceded by the fact; thus the fact cannot be disassociated from its association which acts like a prism for the viewer to mediate reality; everything that the person sees is through this prism which in itself is a gamut of influences.

The nature of truth/fact therefore is inseparable from personal knowledge and can only be suggested. Thus considering that it is almost impossible to be completely objective in the understanding of any social phenomena, a mature reader views it as only a facet of truth, a glimpse of what the social scenario was at a particular time and moment in history of any given culture. Mohanty maintains that literature “often anticipates“ the readings of historians and social thinkers, and so literary critics can contribute toward the same by exploring through “echoing.“

A serious challenge facing the Indian scholar is how to define the canon of “Indian Literature.“ Mohanty feels that a comparative approach to Indian literature can help avoid the repercussions of “regional insularity and cultural chauvinism.“ For this to happen, focusing on the messages and meanings underlying the text –instead of eulogizing one’s vernacular language and region– is imperative. Only then will the rich artistic heritage of the Indian literatures be fully revealed and celebrated. One such method is offered by U. R Ananthamurthy who argued in one of his lectures at Cornell University that the focus should be on “textual clusters defining socio-cultural movements across linguistic regions.“ The idea can be extended to thematic clusters cutting across regions.

In order to bring about this extraordinary leap onto the firm ground of an evolving canon, there will have to be a calculated effort to go beyond monolingualism. This movement away from monolingualism will enable the interested scholar to read the texts of two or more linguistic traditions, thereby enabling her to compare works rooted in different cultures expressed in different languages but converging as a united effort to reflect social phenomena or values.

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