Comparative literary studies

In an increasingly globalised and globalising world, „culture‟ appears as „an important determinant of subjectivity‟ and, consequently, of creative expression (Beautell 2000). With this in mind, Tötösy de Zepetnek (1999) prompted researchers to merge the comparative study of literature with that of cultural studies, embracing what he designated the new „comparative cultural studies‟ approach. If we are to accept Tötösy de Zepetnek‟s challenge, however, as I argue in this paper, it would be better to adopt a transcultural theoretical paradigm more apt to deal with the cultural complexities of the twenty-first century mobile age. Not only does „transculture/ality‟ – the combined notion of „transculture‟ (Epstein 1995, 2009) and „transculturality‟ (Welsch 1999, 2009) – appear to be endowed with the kind of dynamic non-linear nature and flexibility most needed in dealing with the fastchanging patterns and transformations in cultures and literatures, but it also seems to promote a new „borderless‟ comparative methodology. In doing so it marks an attempt to move away from nationalist stances and the insistence on the periphery–centre, colony– empire, ethnic–mainstream, pure–hybrid dichotomies with which comparative studies (especially within a postcolonial perspective) have been so far associated. It also offers the 1 Arianna Dagnino has a Masters degree in Foreign Languages and Literatures from the University of Genova, Italy. For over 20 years she has travelled and lived in several countries as a socio-cultural analyst and as a foreign correspondent for the Italian press. In 2010 she was granted a scholarship to undertake a PhD in comparative literatures on „Transcultural writing in the global age‟ at the University of South Australia. Her books on the socio-cultural impact of techno-globalisation include I nuovi nomadi (Castelvecchi, 1996), a contribution to the definition of the concept of neo-nomadism; Uoma: la fine dei sessi (Mursia, 2000), an overview of the ethical dilemmas posed by the increasing hybridisation of gender roles and cultural practices; and Jesus Christ Cyberstar (Edra, 2004), a provocative agnostic pamphlet on the emerging values of cyberculture. Her first transcultural novel, Fossili, inspired by her four years in southern Africa as a foreign correspondent, was published in 2010 by Fazi. This paper was presented at the Cultural Studies Association of Australasia Conference „Cultural ReOrientations and Comparative Colonialities‟, Adelaide, 22–24 November 2011. © 2012 Arianna Dagnino