On July 16, Professor Martin Puchner, the Byron and Anita Wien Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Harvard University and Editor-in-Chief of the Norton Anthology of World Literature, gave an online lecture titled “Literature for a Changing Planet”. The lecture was the fourth one of the second season organized by the XMU Center for Comparative Literature and Transcultural Studies. The center’s director, Prof. Lu Jiande, served as the moderator of the lecture. With vivid language and broad perspective, Prof. Puchner introduced the history of literary development over the past thousands of years, sheding light on the ecological thinking behind the concept of world literature, and inspiring us to focus on the relationship between human beings and the environment as shown in literary works, from which we could draw inspirations to deal with environmental issues today.
Prof. Puchner began his lecture with an introduction of the main content of his book The Written World, which presents a history of the development of literature that tells how words have changed the world. He first talked about the origins of literature, noting that literature was born at the intersection of storytelling and the technology of writing. Humans have long interpreted the world through oral storytelling, placing themselves in larger contexts, but it was only when oral storytelling was combined with the technology of writing that literature emerged. Thus, focusing on the tradition of oral storytelling and the evolution of creative technologies such as paper, books and printing, the book explores how the two intersected and, in turn, allowed literature to evolve and, indeed, to influence and change the world.
Following this line of thought, Prof. Puchner gives us a rundown of four stages in the development of literature. The first intersection of oral storytelling and writing technology took place in Uruk (an ancient city located in what is modern Iraq) in Mesopotamia. About 5,000 years ago, cuneiform writing was invented to serve primarily economic and political purposes. Bookkeepers used writing to keep track of sales, and rulers used it to more efficiently transmit instructions to various locations and thus control and expand their territories. Centuries after writing was invented, stories became written, and the first written story, the Epic of Gilgamesh, was created, celebrating the great achievements of the Uruk king Gilgamesh. Prof. Puchner noted that unlike the chanted Homeric epics, the Epic of Gilgamesh is closely linked to the written word, and the text mentions Gilgamesh's ability to read and write and consciously write down his experiences on clay tablets as the most significant achievement of his culture.
Prof. Puchner went on to say that in the 6th century B.C., a new form of literature, the sacred texts, emerged in Mesopotamian Babylonia, giving rise to the second stage of literary development. In 587 B.C., the Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar II destroyed Jerusalem and expelled the local Jews. These exiled Jews were eager to return to their homeland, and some of them became professional scribes, preserving a series of stories from their culture about the Creation, the Flood, the Exodus, and the finding of their homeland by transcribing texts, which were the precursors of the Hebrew Bible. When the Jews returned to Jerusalem, Ezra the scribe mounted a newly built wooden platform and displayed the scroll with the Jewish story to the crowd, who immediately bowed their heads in reverence for the sacred text. Prof. Puchner pointed out that this was an important moment in the development of literature, when the text was given a sacred meaning for the first time. The sacred texts did not have to depend on the reverence of the rulers, but were themselves worshipped and henceforth became the bedrock of religion.
Prof. Puchner then showed a picture of the Vajra Sutra with an image of the Buddha and his followers, and introduced the third stage of literature – masters’ literature or students’ literature. The Buddha, Confucius, Socrates, and Jesus preached everywhere, and interestingly enough, they did not write books themselves, but chose to teach through oral discourse. Their students recorded the words and actions of their teachers in the hope that the teachings would spread through the written word and be passed down from generation to generation. One of the earliest surviving printed texts in the world, the Vajra Sutra, is attributed to two crucial innovations that occurred in China: paper and the printing press. The use of paper and printing greatly reduced the cost of literature and brought about the fourth stage of popular literature. The Arabs acquired the technology to make paper from China, initiating a golden age of Arabic literature, where paper was used not only to transcribe their holy text, the Qur’an, but also to create a flourishing of popular literature represented by the Thousand and One Nights. Later, Gutenberg of Germany improved the printing press, making it possible to mass-produce high-quality books.
After summarizing these viewpoints, Prof. Puchner explained that the idea of “world literature” underpins his book The Written World, which looks at a dozen of the world’s most important literary works over a period of 4,000-plus years. The concept of "Weltliteratur" was first introduced by Goethe, who told his assistant Eichmann in Weimar on January 31, 1827: “The age of world literature is almost upon us, and each of us should hasten its arrival.” Goethe expressed this sentiment after reading Chinese novels, and his concept of world literature implies a literature that is not limited to Europe and has a universal meaning. Goethe, who was also keen on geology, examined the natural landscapes mentioned in the Greco-Roman epics, which gave him an ecological thinking of world literature. Prof. Puchner also mentioned that Goethe’s close friend Alexander von Humboldt was a physical geographer whose studies of climatic zones placed the world under the same ecological system and had a global perspective.
Prof. Puchner commented that Goethe’s and Humboldt’s studies inspire us to think about the relationship between world literature and the environment. How has literature from around the world expressed human ideas about nature over the millennia? And how can we, as literary researchers, draw inspiration from literature to address the environmental issues facing humanity today? Prof. Puchner argued that humans have long imagined the relationship with the environment through literature. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the concept of the city is important. The city of Uruk, built by the protagonist King Gilgamesh, was one of the first cities in the world; therefore, the epic shows us how towns were first settled. Canals and irrigation systems were built on the fertile plains of the two river basins, and intensive farming operations provided the conditions for maintaining urban space. The Epic opens by celebrating the splendor of Uruk’s earthen walls, reflecting the success of human control over the environment.
The Epic then moves on to the main plot. Gilgamesh was initially tyrannical, and the gods created a wild man named Enkidu to counteract his control. Enkidu lived in the wilderness, in the company of animals. A divine prostitute was ordered by Gilgamesh to tempt Enkidu, and after the scheme succeeded, the animal companions no longer accepted him. Enkidu was then forced to enter the city of Uruk, where he began to learn manners, socialized with people, and became close friends with Gilgamesh. Prof. Puchner commented that the city implies human identity, and after entering the urban area, Enkidu completed the transformation from beast to man, which reflects the close connection between human nature and urban civilization.
Prof. Puchner goes on to tell the story of Gilgamesh and Enkidu’s triumphant return to the city after killing Humbaba, the monster guarding the forest, and cutting down the trees. Prof. Puchner said that the context of this episode is noteworthy: the forests of Mesopotamia were deforested as early as the rise of the city. Since the construction of palaces, temples and other large buildings required quality wood, the city builders had to travel further and further to extract it; therefore, Gilgamesh’s expedition to the mountains and forests (modern Lebanon) reflects man’s deprivation of natural resources. This brings us to the realization that literature from more than four thousand years ago already clearly portrays the process of urbanization and the exploitation of natural resources by man, showing the many means by which man controls the environment through technology and his ideas about it. In addition, the chapters of the Epic of Gilgamesh on the Great Flood are early human imaginings of natural disasters, all of which demonstrate the interaction between literature and nature.
Prof. Puchner further pointed out that, like the Epic of Gilgamesh, the classics in some way reflect on the relationship between man and nature, urbanization and natural exploitation, which deserve our attention. In addition, literature can change people’s attitude towards the environment through different modes of storytelling and various characterizations. As literature researchers, we should dig deeper into the value of literature and make our own contribution to solving environmental problems.
Finally, the moderator, Prof. Lu Jiande, discussed the environmental issues reflected in Chinese literature, and had an insightful conversation with Prof. Puchner on the spread of printing and world cultural exchange. The lecture was a resounding success.
