杏吧原创

MULTICULTURALISM is the key word of the new millennium. We can expect a
plethora of books. Here鈥檚 one of the first. Dictionary of Global
Culture (Penguin, 拢25, ISBN 0670857742) aims to redress imbalances in
Western domination by becoming 鈥渢he global citizen鈥檚 guide to culture
emphasising the achievement of the non-Western world鈥�.

The authors, both academics working in Afro-American studies at Harvard,
acknowledge the challenge. They describe the book as a 鈥渟ampler鈥� or 鈥渕iscellany鈥�
even though it shows an impressive level of scholarship.

Traditions all over the planet, they argue, inform 鈥渓iterature, music, dance,
painting and sculpture, film and television . . . cuisine, language, games and
sports鈥�. Perhaps the representation of each category has been carefully
balanced. It does seem idiosyncratic, however, to omit Pythagoras, Leibnitz,
Faraday, Rasputin, Anubis, Car锚me, Escoffier, Genghis Khan, acupuncture,
the Pillow Books, glasnost, perestroika, corroboree
and Maori while including Babe Ruth, Vikhram Seth, Amy Tan, David Lean, Toni
Morrison, Japanese-American internment and revolutionary operas. Modern
Americans seem overrepresented: Kennedy鈥檚 entry is twice that of Jesus. The
Cultural and Quiet Revolutions figure, but not the Velvet.

This need for greater inclusivity could have been achieved at the expense of
the large type and thick paper. And one could forgive the authors for biting off
more than they can chew if the entries were balanced with good
cross-referencing.

If indeed half the world鈥檚 population will be Asian by 2000, then the Western
world needs a book like this. The second edition must be better than the first.
Wait for it.