Growing up in the UK, I’ve studied a lot of literature written by
British authors. Shakespeare, Thomas Hardy, and John Keats, to name a few. But
I did look at American authors too, authors such as Toni Morrison, F. Scott
Fitzgerald, and John Steinbeck. Yet, one of the things that I felt was missing
from my literary education was world literature: texts originally written in a
language other than English, or whose authors are not from Britain or America.
Being the avid reader that I am, it didn’t take long before I found
myself dipping my toe in the proverbial sea of world literature. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi
Adichie, allowed me to take a closer look at Nigerian culture. Living in
London, I had quite a few Nigerian friends and so I wasn’t a stranger to eating
jollof rice and fufu, or taking part in the Nigerian Independence Day
celebrations on the first of October. Still, reading Half of a Yellow Sun, which partly takes
place during the Nigerian civil war, showed me a whole new side to the rich and
painful history within this West African country. The same can be said about
Khaled Hosseini’s novels The Kite Runner and
A Thousand Splendid Suns. These
novels showed me a deeper understanding of how drastically, and rapidly, life
has changed in Afghanistan in the last forty years. I realised, by reading
these books, that I had the ability to learn so much about different histories,
cultures, nations and individuals from the comfort of my own home.
Recently, I have decided to jump into the deep end (yes, I’m still
referring to my ‘sea of world literature’ metaphor here, stay with me on this
one) by reading as many books as I can from authors who are neither American
nor British. Reading Italian authors such as Primo Levi and Umberto Eco has
reminded me that the literature of one nation can be very diverse. I don’t
think that many people can say that If
Not Now, When? by Levi, and The Name
of the Rose by Eco, have much in common. The first is about Jewish
partisans at the end of WWII, and the second discusses Christianity in the
1300’s. Both are enlightening, well written, and thought provoking in their own
special way, but they’re like chalk and cheese. A lot of people tend to
generalise when it comes to reading world literature. They think that because
they’ve read books from one particular author they now know all about the
culture. That, however, is not the case. Reading books by different authors
from the same country can give you a much better, and more detailed,
understanding of the culture and history of a country.
For me, reading these great books has been a pleasure and a privilege. I
have travelled to far off places, I have submerged myself in many different
cultures, and I have learnt about new ideas and ways of thinking. Each novel
has given me something to think about, and each one has stayed with me long
after I have read the last word. The power of words is an incredible thing and
if we only focus on reading literature from the places we are from, we are missing
out on having a great adventure.
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