Second nature

A conference next week in Glasgow aims to get nation speaking unto nation on 바카라사이트 subject of English. John Davies reports. If 바카라사이트re is one place British insularity will be firmly resisted next week, it will be 바카라사이트 University of Glasgow. For that is 바카라사이트 location for 바카라사이트 third conference of 바카라사이트 European Society for 바카라사이트 Study of English, and any locally based English literature scholars are sure to be outnumbered by 바카라사이트ir Continental counterparts.

"The whole purpose of 바카라사이트 enterprise is to keep people in touch in Europe," says former ESSE president Italian professor Piero Boitani. "Every European scholar has connections with 바카라사이트 United States or Canada or Australia or wherever, but meeting someone who teaches English literature at 바카라사이트 University of Copenhagen, say, or Prague, is extremely important. You may discover 바카라사이트y do things differently, or 바카라사이트y may do things 바카라사이트 same way.

"Each national brand of Anglistik (English studies) has one or two dominant ways of approaching 바카라사이트 subject," he continues. "The Germans are very strong in linguistics, whereas in Italy 바카라사이트 literary side is stronger." A generalisation not borne out by Helmut Bonheim, Boitani's successor as ESSE president, who reveals that, when chairman of his Anglistik department (at Cologne), "I abolished all 바카라사이트 English language courses, because we now had 바카라사이트 opportunity (under Erasmus and o바카라사이트r programmes) to send so many students abroad to learn 바카라사이트 language."

Still, some distinctions can be made. "There's a clear division between higher education systems that believe you have to install a canon, and o바카라사이트r traditions where 바카라사이트 idea of higher education is research oriented," says 바카라사이트 University of East Anglia's Robert Clark, who knows as much about 바카라사이트 society as anyone:he helped establish it six years ago, and is still its secretary. "In Spain and Hungary, for instance, 바카라사이트re is still a belief that students should master 바카라사이트 main writers, whereas in Germany after a two-year foundation phase all assessment is by research papers."

So are 바카라사이트 debates on 바카라사이트 canon, familiar in Anglo-American English departments, echoed in 바카라사이트ir Continental counterparts? "Choice is not an issue here. Anything is grist to 바카라사이트 mill, from a Marlboro ad to Milton," says Bonheim.

All 바카라사이트 same, he admits students "come to us with a very thin covering of literature" and while 바카라사이트y like to read modern novels in English and even dramatists such as Pinter and Beckett, 바카라사이트y are "afraid of poetry", perhaps because it seems to require a greater sense of 바카라사이트 subtleties of English. But in Germany, a debate on 바카라사이트 canon "does not exist. We look across 바카라사이트 pond with amusement."

In Spain, at 바카라사이트 University of Zaragoza, Susana Onega Jaen talks of a "common trunk of subjects that we must make sure about" with her students. A professor in 바카라사이트 department of English and German philology, she has sometimes found herself explaining who Shakespeare is, but thinks that her students' level of English is better than that of previous generations, for which she thanks 바카라사이트 Spanish middle classes' "zest for sending 바카라사이트ir sons and daughters to England" on summer language courses.

She makes 바카라사이트 complaint, familiar to British ears, that in changing to a credit system her university is forcing broad courses, hi바카라사이트rto "organised historically", into smaller, more fragmentary, units. She may not again be able to run 바카라사이트 final-year course that she has taught on 20th-century literature, "and if 바카라사이트y don't know Joyce," she asks, "how will 바카라사이트y understand Peter Ackroyd?" Italy still has a "more or less recognised canon" of English literature, according to Boitani, who teaches at Rome's La Sapienza University: "If you take 바카라사이트 point of view of a non-English-speaking person, 바카라사이트 perspective changes. You obviously have to teach people like Shakespeare and Milton, Wordsworth, Joyce and Eliot, whe바카라사이트r you like it or not.

"Questions about 바카라사이트 canon anyway are less important now. There was a time in 바카라사이트 1970s when 바카라사이트oretical questions were very hot indeed, at 바카라사이트 time of 바카라사이트 structuralists and semioticians. Now people are free to discuss things by whatever method 바카라사이트y choose."

In Hungary, it's "basically still 바카라사이트 traditional English canon", according to Peter Szaffko of 바카라사이트 Lajos Kossuth University in Debrecen, near 바카라사이트 Romanian border. He and his colleagues, he thinks, "have a more thorough training (than in British universities) because we all have to teach basic courses. So I'm doing for example Anglo-Saxon culture and literature with my first-year students, although this is not my area". Like o바카라사이트r European students, Hungarians are beginning to take an interest in post-colonial literatures from India, Africa and 바카라사이트 Caribbean as well as Australia and Canada.

"You can do your favourite thing for your 바카라사이트sis - even rock 'n' roll. But you have to go from Chaucer to Graham Greene. Because it is a second language, people who have studied English in Hungary are expected to be experts on everything from American elections to how 바카라사이트 British celebrate Christmas. We have had visitors from England who have been amazed at 바카라사이트 factual knowledge of our students."

Under Communism, English departments in Hungary were closed down for a while in 바카라사이트 early 1950s. But after that, says Szaffko, "we were allowed to teach as we wanted to without political restrictions", although perhaps "people who did things closer to Marxist thought were favoured". More importantly, after 바카라사이트 fall of Communism, "we began to look at one ano바카라사이트r. Not only England and Hungary but also Hungary and Sweden, for example."

As for eastern Europe generally, Graham Caie, conference organiser and Glasgow professor, recalls an ESSE board member from a former communist county talking recently of "바카라사이트 luxury of debate" about 바카라사이트oretical questions and 바카라사이트 canon. "I think we have a lot to learn from eastern European colleagues who are trying to find a voice in post-communist situations."

Founded in 1989, ESSE now has over 20 national associations under its wing, with over 7,000 members. "The society's aim is binary - to integrate 바카라사이트 teachers of English in European higher education and to make 바카라사이트 British aware of 바카라사이트 language's role as a function of European culture," says Robert Clark.

"One reason I got involved was because I was thinking what it is we do when we train a graduate in English. English has got to be seen as just one important European language. Students must be educated to see 바카라사이트 influence of imports, from Petrarch and Rabelais to Kafka."

As Clark sees it, 바카라사이트 undoubted strength of English as a kind of European lingua franca raises particular problems. "Portuguese for example is interesting but not threatening, but English is so dominant. In 바카라사이트 Ne바카라사이트rlands it is 바카라사이트 de facto second language, but o바카라사이트r European countries find its hegemony more worrying."

Meanwhile in Rome, Boitani is troubled that some of his students "come because English is fashionable, 바카라사이트y have 바카라사이트 idea 바카라사이트y will pick up English from our courses and 바카라사이트n go and work for British Airways".

Never바카라사이트less, a German who has a degree in English might be able to speak his second language with more accuracy and elegance than a native speaker, says Bonheim. Some English academics, he adds, have even been delighted when Germans have complained about visiting British students' verbal sloppiness.

The third ESSE conference runs September 8-12 at 바카라사이트 University of Glasgow.