Lago di Garda, Italy, August 2, 2010.
Dear President Naylor:
I have learned quite late about a proposal advanced by the Strategic Planning Committee (?) of the University of Toronto to merge the Centre for Comparative Literature with the proposed School of Languages and Literatures (?). As a former faculty member of the Centre, cross-apointed in 1982 from the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, I am greatly alarmed by this proposal. Since its inception by Northrop Frye, the Centre has survived many and deep changes in the conception and philosophy of the study of literature. It has thrived on these changes, both by promoting them and critically assessing them. What I found exciting about teaching at the Centre was the energy, devotion, curiosity and creativity of both its faculty and its students. Students of the Centre have been very positively influenced by this atmosphere and are, as alumni still devoted to the institution of their maturation. A merger with the proposed School would most likely destroy this atmosphere and repudiate possible students-candidates.
What should also be considered is the national and international importance of the Centre. It has been seen as a true centre of Canadian humanities and its transformation would be felt as another severe loss for the Canadian humanistic studies. Internationally, the Centre has been known for its scholarly achievements, and its international reputation can, I believe, match any department or institute of the University of Toronto. The contacts with the international research of literature has been mutual: papers and books of the faculty and advanced doctoral students have been read all over the globe and often translated into several foreign languages; on the other hand, internationally renowned scholars were attracted to the Centre as visiting scholars or Northrop Frye visiting professors. It is in these mutual contacts that the study of literature as an artistic cultural activity has flourished at the Centre.
For these (and not only these) reasons, I cannot but join the former director of the Centre, professor Peter Nesselroth in pleading with you: “If the university is truly commited to excellence, it should seriously reconsider this ill-advised recommendation”.
Sincerely yours,
Lubomir Dolezel
Professor Emeritus of Slavic and Comparative Literature
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood
c/o McClelland & Stewart
75 Sherbourne St., 5th Floor
Toronto, ON
M5A 2P9
President David Naylor
University of Toronto
Simcoe Hall, Room 206
27 King's College Circle
Toronto, ON
M5S 1A1
CC. Provost Cheryl Misak, Dean Meric Gertler, Professor Neil ten Kortenaar,
Re. Centre for Comparative Literature, University of Toronto
July 27, 2010
Dear President Naylor,
I am writing to express my disappointment and frustration with the recommendation of the University of Toronto's Strategic Planning Committee to disestablish the Centre of Comparative Literature in 2011. As you may know, I was a student at Victoria College and studied under Northrop Frye. My admiration for his scholarship, and the work done at the centre he founded, is longstanding.
But the reasons I urge for a reconsideration of this decision are not simply nostalgic. This is a time in which cross-cultural trends are increasing exponentially; interdisciplinary study is booming, and globalization is the watchword of the day. To shunt students off to various linguistic departments instead of permitting conversation and collaboration in a central space is both counterintuitive and short-sighted. This is precisely the wrong time to make a decision of this kind, and would indeed reflect very poorly on the university overall. The University of Toronto, I know, prides itself on being able to dialogue with many of the top universities across our southern border and around the world. The Centre for Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto is the only one of its kind in our country. While I understand the temptation to save a few bucks with this closure, I urge you instead to heed the loud reminders (available to read at www.savecomplit.ca) that the costs of closing the Centre might be greater than the University of Toronto can afford.
Sincerely,
Margaret Atwood
c/o McClelland & Stewart
75 Sherbourne St., 5th Floor
Toronto, ON
M5A 2P9
President David Naylor
University of Toronto
Simcoe Hall, Room 206
27 King's College Circle
Toronto, ON
M5S 1A1
CC. Provost Cheryl Misak, Dean Meric Gertler, Professor Neil ten Kortenaar,
Re. Centre for Comparative Literature, University of Toronto
July 27, 2010
Dear President Naylor,
I am writing to express my disappointment and frustration with the recommendation of the University of Toronto's Strategic Planning Committee to disestablish the Centre of Comparative Literature in 2011. As you may know, I was a student at Victoria College and studied under Northrop Frye. My admiration for his scholarship, and the work done at the centre he founded, is longstanding.
But the reasons I urge for a reconsideration of this decision are not simply nostalgic. This is a time in which cross-cultural trends are increasing exponentially; interdisciplinary study is booming, and globalization is the watchword of the day. To shunt students off to various linguistic departments instead of permitting conversation and collaboration in a central space is both counterintuitive and short-sighted. This is precisely the wrong time to make a decision of this kind, and would indeed reflect very poorly on the university overall. The University of Toronto, I know, prides itself on being able to dialogue with many of the top universities across our southern border and around the world. The Centre for Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto is the only one of its kind in our country. While I understand the temptation to save a few bucks with this closure, I urge you instead to heed the loud reminders (available to read at www.savecomplit.ca) that the costs of closing the Centre might be greater than the University of Toronto can afford.
Sincerely,
Margaret Atwood
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