The Two Men in Luther Essay Example for Free

The Two Men in Luther Essay Martin Luther, a Christian theologian stated in 1520 that, â€Å"A Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none; a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to everyone†. Although at first glance, this statement appears to be a paradox. Through the understanding of Luther’s beliefs between the difference of spirituality and physicality, one can realize that this statement is not contradictory. The Catholic church believs that one needs spiritual purity, as well as the performance of Christian acts to achieve salvation. Martin Luther believed that preforming Christain deeds was godlike, but not a component of reaching salvation. In the sixteenth century, the Catholic Church believed that to achieve salvation, one must be spiritually pure, and preform a sufficient amount of good Christian acts. The concept exists to allow christains more time to preform these acts to ensure salvation. Martin Luther disagreed with the catholic church in that to reach all one has to do to reach salvation is to be spiritually pure by accepting the word of god. He felt that the Catholic Church took advantage of its followers by saying that giving money was a Christian act and that one could buy their way to heaven. Luther’s doctrines formulated a new breed a christains that believed in spirituality as the key to achieving salvation. This spiritual side of a christain was referred to as the inward man. The inward man could achieve salvation by accepting the word of god.

Competition among airlines: Air Mauritius

Competition among airlines: Air Mauritius CHAPTER 1 1.0 Introduction The Air Mauritius was created in the year 1967 which helped connecting our small island to the rest of the world. The company now has direct flights throughout Africa, Australia, Asia and Europe which sums up to around 20 regional and international destinations (Air Mauritius, 2013). Voted best Airline in the Indian Ocean (according to the World Travel Awards, 2013), the company represents Mauritius and is the only airline company of the country till date, hence its flag carrier. The latter boasts to give unique, high quality services and a special attention to its customers (Air Mauritius, 2013). According to its Annual Report 2012/2013, the company currently has 2,340 employees, 12 aircrafts in their fleet serving 19 destinations. Having had a turnover of EUR 450 Million, Air Mauritius offered 1.8 Million seats but carried only 1.3 Million passengers and had only 10,080 number of flights during the 2012-2013 period (Air Mauritius Annual Report 2012-2013). These statistics show that 500,000 seats remained unsold which might be due to the recession affecting our main tourist market; Europe. However, Air Mauritius has slowly recovered from major losses in the previous years. In the 2011-2012 period, the company accounted for a net loss of EUR 29.4 Million but for the current period of 2012-2013, there was only a net loss of EUR 2.5 Million (Air Mauritius Annual Report 2012-2013). Making losses is always bad for business but the recovery was amazing and we hope to see more of it in the upcoming years. Even though Air Mauritius recovered from losses, the company was not able to match the sales and revenue of previous years which proves the fact that the company is losing some of its customers. The company is partly owned by the government with 51% shares and 41% going to the shareholders. They all have a major role to play in order to protect the national flag carrier from stiff competition and the current economic crisis. It is very crucial for Air Mauritius to preserve its customers and attract new markets because the tourism industry heavily depends on it. The tourism industry is the main revenue generating industry in Mauritius and by being the only flag carrier; Air Mauritius plays an important role in the success of this economic pillar. Most of the tourists come to the island by air and we all want them to use Air Mauritius instead of coming through our fierce competitors like Air France, British Airways and Emirates. Air Mauritius is currently negotiating with Air France for a strategic partnership since the negotiations have failed with Emirates (BusinessMega.mu, 2013). Now that the company is focusing more on the Asian market, Air Mauritius is developing new strategies to increase the capacity of passengers to and from China, Singapore and Kuala Lampur (CAPA, 2013). The company also increased the frequency of flights mainly to China and India in order to attract tourists from the current profitable target market of the tourism industry. In February 2013, the government of Mauritius and the Republic of Maldives have both signed a bilateral agreement which aims to target the Chinese market, especially with destinations like Beijing and Hong Kong where both the Air Mauritius and Mega Maldives Airlines will offer direct services (Gov.mu, 2013). In mid-2012, Air Mauritius has formed a codeshare partnership with Air Austral which has had some financial difficulties just likes our own flag carrier. Th e codeshare partnership helped to restoring the Mauritius-Perth route several times per week (CAPA, 2013). Both Air Mauritius and Air Austral agree that Australia is a great potential destination for growth. A flag carrier is very important for countries that have it. It represents the image of the country but most importantly, it provides preferential rights, privileges and facilitates certain agreements with other countries. The government of Mauritius has recently decided to go towards an open sky policy for its flag carrier instead of sticking with the old limited sky policy. They are trying to imitate Emirates which has its success thanks to the open sky policy (Hough, 2013). This will prove to be successful for Mauritius only when sales at Air Mauritius are boosted again and there are more tourist arrivals. The local government has a forecast of 1 million tourist arrivals for the current year of 2013, which represents an increase of about 2.5% compared to last year (BusinessMega.mu, 2013). However this will not be possible without the help of Air Mauritius since most of these tourists will rely on air travel to come here and they may opt for other rival airline companies because of flight prices. Air Mauritius plays a major role in the economy of Mauritius and helped the tourism industry grow throughout its operational years and this is still an on-going process despite the company is suffering an economic turmoil (Prayag, 2007). The company’s fleet consists only of Airbus aircraft fitted with modern equipment and is it approved by the European Aviation Safety Agency. On-board the Air Mauritius, there are many services like the inflight entertainment, meals, duty free sales and magazines. The on-board menu consists mainly of the Mauritian cuisine but draws its inspiration from all around the world offering Asian, Indian and European flavours. The company also has certain strict no-pork and no-beef policies and even have special meals for needy people, like the diabetic meal for example (Air Mauritius, 2013). On its official website, the company describes the various types of meals that it can offer to its passengers. Some of these are the vegan meals, vegetarian meals, kosher meals, low-fat meals, child meals, baby meals and much more. This is quite an interesting strategy to satisfy customers and make them feel that they are well taken care of at Air Mauritius. Furthermore, the on-board entertainment includes popular Hollywood and Bollywood movies and documentaries to watch. There are various types of music to listen to and there are also some games for avid gamers or children. There exist two classes of travel with Air Mauritius; the Economy class and the Business class. In the economy class, the company boasts to have large passenger space with a 79cm pitch which provides a comfortable and relaxing flight experience (Air Mauritius, 2013). It is not an important factor which customers are concerned about but it is good to know that the economy class has a seating configuration of 2-4-2 layout with two final rows of 2-3-2 for a total of 265 economy seats (The Sydney Morning Herald, 2010). This setting is mainly for the Airbus A340E and of course there are certain various depending on the model of the aircraft. Seating arrangements in the business class have recently been upgraded with new lie-flat seats on the Airbus A340 and A330 (Air Mauritius, 2013). These seats provide the passengers with some privacy and better comfort than the previous ones. They are large enough to accommodate any type of person. Its functions are well in grasp of the passenger thank s to a remote control. The lie-flat seats also come with a massage option. Air Mauritius offers different flight check-in options for its customers. One may check in online on their official website and at the Sir Seewosagur International Airport or at various other airports like the Paris Charles de Gaulle, London Heathrow, Beijing Capital International Airport and much more. They also have a premium check-in reserved for business class passengers available at every airport. On its website, the company offers adequate accurate information about the check-in process and offers even FAQs to help out lost customers. These customers will also get help from Air Mauritius staff either at the head office found in Port Louis or at the SSR International Airport whenever they feel the need to. The Amà ©dà ©e Maingard Lounge is the principal lounge of Air Mauritius at the airport terminal. The lounge offers assistance from staff, books magazines, TV, business centre with computers, WIFI, children’s play area, and a bar buffet area offering a wide array of food and beverages. Surely, all these come at a price. Business class passengers and Kestrelflyer Elite members have free access to the lounge. However an economic class passenger may get access as well depending on availability and at some prices. Normally an adult will pay MUR 2000, MUR 1000 for a child and free access for an infant (Air Mauritius, 2013). But these tariffs are subject to change anytime. Recently, the SSR International Airport underwent major upgrades and introduced its new terminal which came into operation on 12 September 2013. The new terminal consists of three levels where the ground level where domestic arrivals and departures are taken care of. Then, level 1, where the Air Mauritius Lounge is situation alongside check-in counters and finally level 2, where international arrivals are taken care of. The Air Mauritius has been waiting for this upgrade eagerly and expects to increase customer satisfaction through a newer servicescape (Air Mauritius, 2013). With all these said, Air Mauritius expects to increase its number of customers while retaining the current ones and start making more profit again, in the years to come. One of the biggest advantages of travelling with Air Mauritius is that the company holds a perfect flight safety record and is the safest company to fly with in the Indian Ocean (World Travel Awards, 2013). This perfect record contributed into our flag carrier winning the Indian Ocean’s Leading Airline Award for 9 consecutive years. The record suggests that an Air Mauritius plane never crashed or killed anyone on-board due to safety issues. However, some planes experienced some technical faults whether in flight or on ground which also lead to delays in departure or arrivals. Just recently, in October 2013, the MK 034 flight had some major technical issues when leaving Plaisance for Paris. Only ten minutes after taking off, one of the engines blew out and caught fire mid-air causing the plane to lose speed and altitude. The pilot informed the passengers about the incident and decided to drop fuel at sea in order to be able to land back at the SSR International Airport. The pro cess took hours but MK 034 landed safely with panicked passengers. The plane was then grounded for repairs and replaced by another one to get the passengers to destination, Paris. It all occurred between 22h50 and 02h22 which caused a huge delay and a series of other flight delays the coming days because of a grounded aircraft (L’express.mu, 2013). These technical issues occur with almost every airline company in the world. The positive point for Air Mauritius here is that the pilot was able to get the passengers back on land safely. 1.1 Problem Statement Air Mauritius holds a strong leading position in Africa among the competition, however many airlines have surpassed the company, globally speaking (Prayag, 2007). Nowadays, we have companies like the Emirates, Air France, British Airways, Etihad Airways, Air Seychelles, Condor, Thomas Cook and Lufthansa who have become great examples of successful airlines which are currently in direct competition with Air Mauritius (Business Excellence, 2013). They started small-time somewhere, just like the Air Mauritius but are now leaders of the skies ahead of our flag carrier. However, the company is going to show that it is still a competitor to look out for among its competitors since Air Mauritius is planning to increase flight frequencies of certain destinations like Johannesburg and Beijing which will help reinforcing their connectivity across the globe. Since Europe has been affected by the economic crisis lately, the numbers of tourist’s arrivals have largely decreased. This is why the government of Mauritius has decided to re-orient the tourism industry towards a new market in order to increase demand. That new market is no other than Asia, targeting most precisely India and China. Thanks to this change, we can now clearly see why the Air Mauritius has increased flight frequencies towards these destinations and is constantly bombarding the general population with promotional packages to Beijing, Hong Kong or Mumbai. The â€Å"limited sky policy† and â€Å"no charter flights† helped boosting sales of the company in the past but recently in order to increase tourist arrivals and due to stiff competition, the local government is considering an â€Å"open sky policy† for a better future of the economy of the island (Prayag, 2007). This is being implemented because the government aims to boost touristâ€℠¢s arrivals and expects millions of tourist arrivals every year. If this proves to be a successful step, the main economic pillar of the island; the tourism industry, will prosper and eventually increase the revenue of the country. Having an excellent customer satisfaction is a great asset for an airline company as it will help with customer retention and the company will keep on achieving its primary goal; that is, making profit. But it seems that the Air Mauritius has not been able to satisfy all the customers lately. According to a reliable website that provides real customer reviews and much more information about airlines, Skytrax.com 2013, the service at Air Mauritius has worsened. Customers are complaining about poor food quality, rude on-board staff, uncomfortable seats, boring entertainment and the fact that the company is still using old aircraft with old technology while every other airline are investing on newer planes. These comments affect service quality and perception of customers in a negative way. Word of mouth may worsen the case and people will tend to think twice before buying a ticket at the Air Mauritius in the near future. Of course, whether they are true or not, these are just statement s and it is my duty to carry out this research in order to find out what is really happening about the service given to customers at the Air Mauritius. In today’s competitive airline environment, the on-board services of an airline are one of the aspects that customers lookout for before purchasing an airline ticket (Namukasa, 2013). Having poor inflight services will push these customers away from the airline company and they will tend to opt for another rival company. This is why the level of service quality must stay high at all times for an airline company or else it will not survive the stiff competition (Archana and Subha, 2012). There have been so many studies which examine the influence of airline service quality on passenger satisfaction and loyalty, for example, Archana and Subha (2012) in India, Huang (2009) in Taiwan and Munusamy et al. (2011) Malaysia but none for Mauritius, this is why this study is important. Aims and Objectives of the study The principal aim of this case study is to analyse how service quality has a major influence on passenger satisfaction and loyalty specifically at the Air Mauritius. This will be done by carrying out several in-depth data analysis and the collection of customer feedback as well. The study will help to identify areas where customer expectations are not being met at Air Mauritius and find recommendations to tackle these flaws. The specific objectives are: To understand the importance of Air Mauritius for the Mauritian economy. To examine the relationship between pre-flight service quality and passenger satisfaction together with passenger loyalty. To analyse the relationship between in-flight service quality and passenger satisfaction together with passenger loyalty. To assess the relationship between post-flight service quality and passenger satisfaction alongside passenger loyalty. To assess whether airline service quality has an impact on passenger satisfaction and loyalty and what are the positive and negative impacts, if any. To make recommendations, based on the results of the study. Outline of study Chapter 1 introduces the subject matter including the tourism industry, the airline industry and the airline company involved in this research. It also describes the economy of Mauritius and how dependant the island is on its flag carrier for the survival of the tourism industry which is the main source of income for the country. The aims and objectives of this researched are also given in this introductory chapter. Chapter 2 is the bulkiest of all and lays the foundations of this research with definitions, empirical studies and examples from other studies. It covers service quality in the tourism industry and in airline companies and describes the instrument used for this study. This chapter also defines the service quality in pre-flight, in-flight and post-flight services related to customer loyalty and satisfaction. Chapter 3 gives enough detail about the methodology used for this research and how the sample size, the questionnaire and the whole research was designed. Chapter 4 lays emphasis on the results of the survey carried out, together with appropriate discussions to interpret these results. This chapter makes good use of charts and tables to interpret the results of the study. Chapter 5 is the final chapter of this research and is all about the conclusions and recommendations of the study. It proposes different approaches that Air Mauritius might take in order to improve its services and attract more customers. This chapter also includes the recommendations made by the survey participants and also depicts the survey limitations and what can be done in future researches in order to tackle these limitations.

Deformations of the Deformed :: Creative Writing Essays

Deformations of the Deformed In my search of inspiration for creative writing projects I was sent to this Website by a professor. This was not just any Website it was THE Website for creative writers of any kind. From Andy Warhol to the boy next door their work is on this site and it’s quite different than what you find in any book at the local Borders. The site is ubu.com it’s dedicated to experimental writing with mixed media. The writers combine sound, images, and text to create works of literature that may change the face, or cover if you will, of any book ever made. The most unique aspect of this genre is that there can be very little actual writing. While yes, you can go on this site and see works you find in any book there are a vast number of projects that could never be in a book for various reasons most being sound. When I first came to this site I thought, wow how cool, I could look at this stuff forever. Then I read and read and listened and looked and read some more until s uddenly I realized my eyes killed. Not only that but I couldn’t really remember what the hell I just read. I had spent approximately three hours staring at my computer screen and could not grasp anything I took in. I also found the whole time I was reading I wanted to hold on to something; there was even a point when I grabbed the sides of my laptop to give the work a physical feeling. How awful! These were really good works of literature and I had just skimmed over them. No matter how hard I tried to read them in depth my mind would have nothing to do with it. Could this be an epidemic? Am I so conditioned to having books, physical entities I can smell, feel, and yes taste, that I cannot comprehend art on a screen? Or worse have I become one of those old people who refuse to adapt to new technology and cherish the way things used to be? I’m beginning to think so. I tried to fix this problem quickly. I thought of printing everything off and reading it that way but I’m not rich.

The Republic: Protagoras, Gorgias, and Meno :: Philosophy Morals Neo Aristotelianism Papers

The Republic: Protagoras, Gorgias, and Meno One vigorous line of thought in contemporary moral philosophy, which I shall call ‘Neo-Aristotelianism,’ centers on three things: (1) a rejection of traditional enlightenment moral theories like Kantianism and utilitarianism; (2) a claim that another look at the ethical concerns and projects of ancient Greek thought might help us past the impasse into which enlightenment moral theories have left us; (3) more particularly, an attempt to reinterpret Aristotle’s ethical work for the late twentieth-century so as to transcend this impasse. The "Neo-Aristotelian" Rejection of Plato Neo-Aristotelians like Martha Nussbaum(1) and Alasdair MacIntyre,(2) in spite of their many differences,(3) are therefore united not only in their positive turn to Aristotle but also in their rejection of Plato and Plato’s Socrates.(4) And yet some features of these rejections invite further reflection. Nussbaum, for example, consistently recognizes that the Socratic-Platonic project requires us to remake ourselves: "In short, I claim that [in the Protagoras] Socrates offers us, in the guise of empirical description, a radical proposal for the transformation of our lives." (FG 117, LK 112) But to what extent has she done justice to the particular kind of remaking Plato has Socrates offer us? More pointedly, does she acknowledge the extent to which Socrates aims at focussing his interlocutors on a process of questioning, rather than simply handing doctrine over to them?(5) Or has her Socrates been flattened out, his dialogical style rendered monological, so as to support her ov erall thesis more easily?(6) As for MacIntyre, does he see clearly enough the parallel between his own work and Plato’s when he says that in his earlier dialogues "Plato is pointing to a general state of incoherence in the use of evaluative language in Athenian culture" (AV 131)? Mutatis mutandis, isn’t this precisely what the opening chapters of After Virtue attempt to show? And to what extent must MacIntyre’s "quest for the good" in his crucial chapter "The Virtues, the Unity of a Human Life and the Concept of a Tradition" be committed to a Platonic, rather than Aristotelian, notion of the good? When he says "now it is important to emphasize that it is the systematic asking of these two questions ["What is the good for me?" and "What is the good for man?"] and the attempt to answer them in deed as well as in word which provide the moral life with its unity" (AV 219, emphasis added), isn’t it Plato’s Socrates who serves as the ultimate source of i nspiration here?

A Summary of Barbara W. Tuchmans The Guns of August :: Barbara W. Tuchman The Guns of August

A Summary of Barbara W. Tuchman's The Guns of August â€Å"The Guns of August† was written by Barbara W. Tuchman in 1962. The book details the causes of the first World war and describes the first month of the war. The book clearly illustrates how a local war became an entire European struggle by a call to war against Russia. Soon after the war became a world issue. Summary of the Book Plans The Beginning (Chapters 1-5) The book begins at the funeral procession of King Edward VII of England in 1910. This procession contained a glorious array of Kings and Nobles from around the world, this was to be the last. Throughout the procession there are mournful faces, but one â€Å"mournful face† hides happiness. The happiness is of Emperor William II of Germany. Throughout his life and reign, Edward candidly exhibited his love for France over his neighboring country, Germany. Now that Edward was out of the way, William was sure that he had earned the position as the ruler of Europe the entire and would soon take action to prove to the rest of the world that Germany was more powerful than all. In Germany, the Chief of the German General Staff, Count Alfred von Schlieffen, created a plan of attack in case of the possibility of a two-front war. But, this plan required invading Belgium, which(at the time) was neutral territory and proteced by England, Despite the promise of England to Belgium, Schlieffen continued with his attack plans. He believed that Germany’s army was far more powerful and advanced than England, and that there was no reason he should feel threatened. After years of perfecting his plans, they were finally finished in 1906. Nevertheless after all of those years of planning, he failed to properly reinforce the eastern front. Even though he was highly criticized for this, he stood by his decision stating that he knew the Russians would force the army into the cold harsh, Russian winter, such as the case of Napoleon. Even though Schlieffen came up with this wonderful and well thought out plan, his successor, General von Moltke, changed the plans entirely. Like Germany, France also concocted an offensive plan.

Prayers in Schools Essay

My name is Ericka Jaid Laurett heil. I have long brown hair and I have blue eyes and I am 5’6. My interests are drawing, playing Xbox, babysitting, watching family guy, and sleeping. My expectations for myself are to pass high school not failing any classes. I was close to failing my expectation because I failed math. But I took credit recovery and got the credit! I wish to be a pediatrician because I love kids and helping them and making them happy. Activities that I enjoy are volleyball, basketball and I used to play soccer but my knees and ankles are bad. My mom’s name is Janda-lynn laurett heil, my dad’s name is Adam Jack Heil, my older sister’s name is Devon Brooke Heil, and my younger sister’s name is Emily Mable Clara Heil. I am the middle child of the family. My family grew up around Bobbi and Tom pitkanen. I called them auntie and uncle all the time. We used to go camping every year at a little campsite we made on an island down the Dryden highway. I actually thought that we were related but recently I found out they are just a close family friend. Also, my best friend’s grandmother lives beside me and I talk to her about everything! Sometimes I just go there and talk to her, and sometimes she comes by my house and chats for a bit. My best friend’s grandmother knows more about me than my mother. Well I have a very strong relationship with my dad’s mom. My mom’s mom left and turned against my family because of something personal that happened in the past. My grandma heil has always been there for my mom and me and my sisters and my dad and even our family friends! She has great advice and is such a nice woman. A couple years ago she was on the phone with my uncle and she had a brain aneurism and collapsed while she was on the phone. She got shipped to Winnipeg and had surgery†¦ Everyone in my family was so upset. She is probably the only grandparent or person in my mom and dad’s side of the family that was actually there for our family and helped us through rough times. She is my bestfriend. My relationship with my sisters is okay at times. I love my sisters but they both bother me. My little sister gets me so mad you don’t even know. I beat her up all the time and when I say beat†¦ I actually mean beat. : P I can kinda tap her with my shoulder and I’m being dead honest she screams and runs to my mom or dad. Its like she’s scared of me or something. My older sister always waits till I leave the house and she steals all my clothes and says there hers. She’s lucky she has a child, I would never beat her up in front of her baby. She is my only sister that I actually trust and can tell stuff to. I was always there for her when she needed help when we were younger, so I trust her with a lot. They are important to me because they are family. If anyone were to hurt them I would honestly beat the person up. I have done that for my little sister already. I don’t like her friends and they know not to do that kind of stuff to my family. My family has helped me with my volleyball sport choice. They have paid for all my volleyball travels and my shirt’s and all that fun stuff. They were the ones that told me about the viper’s volleyball team in grade 8. I tried out and made both cuts so I was on the team! We travelled to Kenora and to a town outside of Winnipeg. I was with a lot of my friends and it was so much fun. We competed in tournaments again kids nowhere near here. I have been told I am great at playing volleyball and that I should try out for the volleyball team. I wanted to but I never had the good grades and the perfect attendance for that. They helped me to become the person I am today. To be strong and stick up for what I believe. That’s why I’m such a smart mouth. I get it from my daddy. Well before I came into high school my family and a close family friend’s family would go to a campsite thing that we made on an island down the Dryden highway. We would stay there and camp for at least a week. Other then that I don’t really know any other things that my family does together. I don’t socialize with my family and if I do it’s Devon or it’s because I want something. I don’t really ever leave my bedroom unless I have to go to the washroom, I’m hungry, I have to do the dishes, I’m babysitting, or I leave the house. Well in my future family I’m going to continue to go camping every year and I don’t really know what else to do. I kind of keep to myself in my house so I don’t really know what my family does that I could continue in my future family. That is all I have to say about my family and my life really. I love my family and my friends and I don’t know what I would do without them.

Comparative Literature in an Age of Globalization

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE IN AN AGE OF GLOBALIZATION: Utrecht University The bylaws of the American Comparative Literature Association stipulate the writ-ing every ten years of â€Å"a report on the state of the discipline. † The present collection Comparative Literature in an Age of Globalization represents the latest in the series and is a follow up to Charles Bernheimer's Comparative Literature in the Age of Multiculturalism (1994). The structural similarities between the two titles, with their repetition of â€Å"Comparative Literature in the age of † is striking, and I will corne back toit.The nineteen essays in the collection have been written by a team of eminent scholars and they respond not only to Bernheimer's collection and to the general theme of â€Å"globalization† but also to each other. The resuit is an interesting series of kaleidoscopic interventions, some highly readable and pulling lots of punch; others less user-friendly and, in attempting to ar ise to the occasion, somewhat convoluted and over-written.Granted: the â€Å"report† is a very awkward genre for which there are no rules and, given this need to improvise, the editer Haun Saussy has made a good job of providing a nuanced and multiperspectival account of the â€Å"state of the discipline†. It would have enhanced the impact of the present volume, however, had it been at times less an inward looking colloquy among seniors and more inviting to the as-yet not initiated graduate student.As it is, it makes very interesting reading for the diehard senior member of staff (and presumably the members of the ACL A) while being less accessible to the future scholar or to those working in other disciplines and interested in finding out what Comparative Literature stands for, where it is going to, and why it might be important. Canadian Review of Comparative Literature / Revue Canadienne de Litterature Comparee CRCL DECEMBER 2008 DECEMBRE RCLC 0319-051Ãâ€"708/35. 4 /353  ©Canadian Comparative Literature Association 54/ CRCL DECEMBER 2008 DECEMBRE RCLC ANN RIGNEY | COMPARATIVE LITERATURE IN AN AGE OF GLOBALIZATION/ 355 A survey attempting to do justice to the complexity of an academie field and what is at issue in it, almost inevitably leaves the reviewer less with a single argument than with a variety of perspectives on a variety of issues (on among other things, the importance of historical approaches, the value of study of graphie novels and other visual forms alongside texts; the nature of comparative literature as a â€Å"metadiscipline† or exploratory space).So what is really surprising about this collection, then, is the degree of convergence that it nevertheless manifests. To begin with, the majority of contributors do address some issue within the broad frame of â€Å"globalization† taking their eue from the substantial introductory essay by Saussy, himself a specialist in Chinese literature.Where the 1994 report focuse d on questions of the boundaries between literature and other cultural expressions, ten years later the main emphasis here is on themes that are in many ways more traditional within the multilingual field of comparative literature: the concept of world literature or â€Å"literatures of the world† and how best to teach it (David Damrosch and Katie Trumpener provide interesting solutions); the cultural role of translation and its status as a medium in teaching and research (Steven Ungar); the nature of comparison itself and the grounds upon which texts or movements from different cultural and linguistic traditions, even from different periods, may usefully be compared with each other and if indeed, as Emily Apter argues following Alain Badiou, if grounds for comparison are always needed; the future role of (East) European literature and theory within the much larger body of world literature now becoming available (Caryl Emerson). Even Marshall Brown's enthusiastic celebration of the close reading of particular texts, using the example of Effi Briest, reflects the concern with globalization: the very fabric of Effi's provincial life is woven through, as Brown shows, with the impact of more distant and general developments.Such concerns suggest that we are witnessing the return of Comparative Literature to its origins as the inter-cultural and multilingual study of literature. As if to con-firm this, the polyglossic Zeitschrift fur Vergleichende Literatur established by Hugo Meltzl de Lomnitz in 1877 is cited on more than one occasion as the foundational text of the discipline (rather than say, the Russian Formalists' programme for a general literary science as promoted among others by Rene Wellek). The phrase â€Å"return to origins† might seem at first sight a merely conservative retreat to older positions, but re-engaging with roads taken earlier in comparatism is not a symptom in this case of burnout.Instead, the present concern with intercultur al and interlinguistic â€Å"comparatism† as the basis for the common pursuit of literary studies represents not just a return, but also a revitalization: a return to a well-established tradition that had been marginalized as long as other theoretical formations, taking a more universalist approach to literary texts, dominated the academie study of literatures, as they did from the 60s on. But it also represents a revitalization and expansion of this tradition: at a time when globalized communication networks, intercultural exchanges and human mobility are such dominant features of our lives, some of the traditional concerns of comparative literature a la Meltzl de Lomnitz and Paul van Tieghem among others have become relevant in new ways and have the possibility of taking central stage in the field of literary studies at large.Ail of this is good news for those who continue to want to disengage the study of literature from the inevitable parochialism of the separate language departments and who are committed to the study of literature as a trans-national medium that has long been crossing borders—before ever the term globalization was invented—both in the original and in the form of translations. The report thus bespeaks confidence in the Comparatist project and a certain excitement at the sense that literature has become an even richer domain now that we in the West are becoming belatedly aware of the variety of literatures in the world and, thanks to work done in the last years to make it more accessible in the form of anthologies, a little better equipped to talk about nonEuropean literatures.As several contributors point out, the success of comparatist concerns in the field of literary studies at large along with the more general acceptance of translation as a legitimate medium for teaching, may mean that Departments of Comparative Literature as such may become less distinctive. The even greater risk is also there that the inter-lingu istic and inter-cultural aims of the Comparatist project may end up being reduced to the derivative study of â€Å"literatures of the world† through the monolingual filter of a globalizing English. For globalization, of course, is always double-edged: while providing a greater awareness of cultural diversity it also tends to reduce that diversity by the very fact that it makes cultures more widely accessible in an homogenizing lingua franca.Given this downside of globalization, the distinctive aims of Comparative Literature as the multilingual study of literature have become ail the more urgent. As the present collection demonstrates, however, the traditional demand that students of Comparative Literature be at home in three (European) languages is no longer enough for the task at hand. More language skills are needed. But since there are presumably also limits to the number of languages any individual scholar can master, there is new need for different forms of collaboration between specialists in various fields-a point implied by a number of contributors, though not extensively thema-tized in the present collection.Indeed, given this need for collaborative projects, the core of Comparative Literature may no longer be in a particular â€Å"disciplinarity† (i. e. that it is carried out by individuals who are skilled in various languages, though hopefully these people will continue to exist) but in its function as a platform for research and teaching: the fact that it brings together scholars who are committed to exploring in a collaborative way the cross-currents and exchanges between literatures written in different languages across the world at different periods. This report on â€Å"the state of the discipline† thus gives not only food for thought but also reasons for confidence.Nevertheless, it also leaves me with some niggling doubts about the very way in which we as literary scholars think about our work. My concern centres on the ge neric title: â€Å"Comparative Literature in the age of†¦ † The problem lies not so much in the epochal tone, suggesting as it does that in the course of 10 years we have moved from the â€Å"age of multiculturalism† to that of â€Å"globalization† (as if mul- 356/ CRCL DECEMBER 2008 DECEMBRE RCLC ANN RIGNEY | COMPARATIVE LITERATURE IN AN AGE OF GLOBALIZATION/ 357 ticulturalism were somehow no longer relevant or globalization a new thing). The problem is more with the implicit assumption that one should define â€Å"the state of the discipline† by looking at ils relation to â€Å"the age† around it as if it should be its mirror.Behind this conceptualization lies, of course, the legacy of Matthew Arnold and the belief that criticism's main task is to provide knowledge, not so much of literature as such, as of the world itself as this is represented or reflected through literature. â€Å"Comparative Literature in the age of † bespeaks thi s grand commitment to be the conscience of the world and to interpret the â€Å"best† that has been thought in it. This continues to be a self-evident aim within literary studies. Hence the ongoing selfsearching about what is the proper object of study fuelled by the belief that the choice of object (world literature, literatures of the world, popular fiction or highly regarded works of literature) involves an ethical decision about what is relevant at the present time or in the present world.With our present global perspective and our awareness that there is more to literature than the canon of European classics, that â€Å"worldly† task has become an even heavier one and the way to its realization more fraught by the need to select carefully. Far be it from me to trivialize the importance of cultural criticism or a commitment to seeking out interesting literary phenomena to study above more banal ones. Nevertheless, there is something paradoxically ostrich-like about the ways in which Comparative Literature defines itself in relation to the world around it and in relation to â€Å"the age† as a whole. The very moral authority accorded to literature is also a throw-back to a time when literature (vide Arnold) was the dominant cultural form.But for ail its ostensible worldliness, the present collection arguably puts its head in the sand when it cornes to the changing status of literature in the highly mediated world in which we live and where globalization has been effectuated more obviously through the medium of television, film, popular music and internet than it has through literature. In paying so much attention to world literature and how it should be defined and taught (in itself a really positive development) the collection nevertheless succeeds in ignoring the fact that literature's relation to the world, and its place in the world, has fundamentally changed. More precisely, it ignores the interface between literature and other med ia, and between literature and other forms of knowledge at the present time. In raising this point, I do not mean to uggest that we should ail drop the study of literature in favor of looking at other media (a pos-sibility raised briefly by Malti-Douglas), for that would be to perpetuate the belief that literary studies is somehow a super-discipline that provides the conscience for the humanities and has a responsibility for ail of culture. Rather it is an argument in favor of reconsidering the changing relations between literature and other cultural media, and the impact both in the past and in the present of new technologies and changing literacies on the very possibilities we have for expression and interpretation. It is also an argument for considering new forms of collaboration with specialists in other fields of culture. In other words, the next challenge is to conceive of literary studies itself from a comparative perspective, that is, in relation to other forms of knowledge about culture and media.In the last decades, certainly in Europe, media studies have been institutionalized and have been providing increasing competition for literary studies both when it comes to attracting students and to attracting research funding. The question which needs to be addressed, sooner rather than 10 years down the line, is how to reposition comparative literary studies in relation to these adjacent fields. In the first place, this will mean becoming more modest: accepting the fact that writing and reading are just one form of culture among other, albeit the one with the longest history and about which there is the greatest body of knowledge (here we should be much less modest).It will also involve becoming more pro-active as we define more clearly, and become once again surprised by the magic of language in its various manifestations, what literature can and can not achieve (Jonathan Culler's intervention hints in this direction). Instead perhaps of soul-searching c ontinuously about the identity of Comparative Literature in relation to the set of objects (world literature, counter-canons, etc) and in relation to â€Å"the age† as a whole, we need to look outside the discipline and accept that there is an outside. Hopefully the next report will focus less on â€Å"the state of the discipline† as seen from within and be more specific about what we have to offer the world of learning at large.