The Requirement for World Literature

There is a massive requirement for world literature from a very early age in children. When a child first learns to read, the child requires a large and diverse range of stories and each culture and country offers this. As the child grows into a teenager, they will become introduced to different literary sub-cultures like the Russian Golden Age, the Age of Islamic Mysticism, the British Modernist Period, the Italian Renaissance and many, many more. Since the GCSE studies of Great Britain made the syllabus just British about five years’ ago, I have been concerned with teenagers not getting the same experience I did of literature from around the world written in different times and places from people who lived in the time of Shakespeare and Elizabeth I to people who were fighting the crusades, from people who were living through the Spanish Civil War to people who fought in the Mexican Revolution, the Bolsheviks Overthrow of Russia, the American Civil War and even down to the South African Abolition of the Apartheid. Unfortunately, as it comes further and further down the line, the teenagers of Great Britain are being deprived of literature from overseas to a degree that is actually disturbing, in favour of just re-reading pretty much the same stories just written by different authors over and over again. As adults, I can also see a drop in British people, especially Caucasian British, who have not really explored the realm of world literature and more specifically of Eastern World literature. So, I wanted to just see what the big deal is with reading world literature and why I am so concerned about my own generation and the next.

Question: why should we read world literature?

Well, the most obvious answer is to further understand each other. If we can read stories about each other’s cultures and heritage, then there is a better chance that we can understand the way in which our minds, families and lives operate. The next, again obvious, answer is that literature is different all over the world. The fact that literature is completely different in each and every part of the world, we can see that there is a definite requirement to experience as much of it as we can. Especially if we enjoy literature as a hobby and a pastime. It is important to develop this by reading outside of our own comfort zones. Another, less obvious, reason is so that we can learn the new and exciting narrative styles of other cultures. There are so many different kinds that even after loving reading and pretty much doing nothing but reading and watching movies since I was a very young child, I have still got much to discover in the realm of cultural reading from different countries.

Question: Should we read world literature with children?

Well, yes we should. But we should obviously be cautious as to introduce them to world literature that they will understand. Personally, for young children there are these books called “Little People, Big Dreams” which each and every book is about a different person and the ones about people who have heritage outside of the English-speaking world are written by authors from the same background as the person being written about. When it comes to teenagers, it is the job of us teachers to introduce them to world literature that you feel that they will enjoy and get really in to. For example: when it comes to rebellious teenagers that like stories about violence, giving them a book written by a Polish, German etc. experiencing the Second World War. This should show them that violence is not always a ‘cool’ and ‘edgy’ thing like they see on movies, but also would teach them about the experiences of real people back at a time when people feared for their lives on a daily basis.

Conclusion

When it comes to drawing a conclusion, there really is not much to say apart from the fact that there is so much literature out there that there should really be no reason at all to staying in your comfort zone when it comes to reading novels and poetry. I am not saying you have to go and read other cultures, I am just saying that you should possibly give it a go. You really have no idea what you might be missing, you might enjoy yourself and you may even discover your new favourite book in the process. My message is: world literature is important and there is a lot to read out there. Reading it just once can let you into a whole different world in which everything you thought you knew about tradition, culture etc. is turned upside-down. But in the end, you could maybe understand your friend of colour a little but more.