What is the future of literature?
For English students, this query often prompts thoughts about the shaky job market and postgraduation plans, as well as changing models of thinking. This weighty question is also the subject of a new lecture series hosted by the English department, “Forum on the Futures of Literary and Cultural Studies.”
This topic is difficult to answer, both for professors and for students. But the lecture series is designed to encourage people to think about the matter in different ways, as opposed to coming up with easy answers, said Ali Behdad, chair of the English department.
“I think we are at a crossroads right now where there are many new directions in the humanities taking place,” Behdad said. “So this forum is aimed at providing the context to promote scholarly dialogue and debate and questions about the status of literature and culture studies.”
Gerardo Ruano, a fourth-year English student, did not attend the first lecture but said he believes the current status of literature has remained stagnant for some time.
“I feel like there’s not a whole bunch of new styles or materials coming out,” Ruano said. “But where (literature) is headed, I’m not sure. It’s a really complicated question.”
For each lecture, the English department invites a distinguished scholar from another university and pairs that professor with a UCLA counterpart who works in a similar field.
The three-year lecture series will include nine lectures this year, Behdad said.
“Most importantly, we are interested in fostering a very wide-ranging discussion about what we do as literary scholars, as cultural critics, how can we think about the future of English as a discipline in the humanities,” Behdad said.
The first forum, held on Sept. 29, included UC Berkeley Professor D.A. Miller and UCLA Professor Sianne Ngai. Miller discussed the hidden pictures in Alfred Hitchcock films, and how digital technologies reveal new details, Behdad said.
Some students had different thoughts about the increasing use of technology in the world of literature. Though second-year English student Rachel Lutack did not attend the forum, she expressed support for the “old-fashioned” norms in literature ““ reading actual books instead of reading on an Amazon Kindle electronic reader, for example.
According to Behdad, the inaugural lecture was a success, with the room packed with more than 100 people.
“(The forum) really not only provides (the students) with lots of food for thought, but also a place where they can see their professors and some of their TAs … in a different context, and they can be in a conversation with them,” Behdad said.
The lecture series will host its second forum on Oct. 28. UCLA Professor Jenny Sharpe and University of Pennsylvania Professor Ania Loomba will discuss memory, communism and feminism.