Gupta S. Philology and Global English Studies: Retracings

Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2015, 259 pages, ISBN: 978-1-349-56869-7, 978-1-137-53783-6This study attempts to conceptualize and comprehend the current condition of English Studies in a general way, with its global reach and
proliferating diversities in view.For the purposes of this book English Studies consists primarily in the advanced study of English linguistics and literary analysis of texts in English. “English linguistics” here encompasses all scholarship addressed to the English language and the variegated Anglophone sphere; and “literary analysis of texts in English” is addressed to all available cultural texts in English, including translations from/into English. Naturally English linguistics can only be understood in terms of general linguistics, and literary analysis in English according to the broad remit of literary theory.The focus on English Studies here is underpinned throughout by broader, generalist theoretical considerations that attach to linguistics and literary study. So, while this book seeks to clarify particularly the condition of English Studies now, its observations have some bearing on linguistics and literary study for any circuit of languages and texts. Also, the fact that the following is primarily concerned with advanced-level study, typically at university level and beyond, does not mean that it is indifferent to literary and linguistic pursuits beyond academia.The relationship and balance of linguistics and literary analysis in English Studies is one of the main concerns of this book. Conventionally, in the Anglophone sphere (including colonial contexts) English departments and higher degrees have been primarily devoted to English literature, with English linguistics either a relatively marginalized subsection of the department or a separate discipline with its own department (or space within a Modern Languages department).