The Case for World Literature
You can do better than reading only American and British authors
The mainstream book publishing space is heavily influenced by the US and the UK literature.
Take any list of the most influential authors of our time, and the majority of this list will be the authors from the English speaking Western world.
Take any “most anticipated books of the year” compilation, and most of them will be written by the UK or US authors.
It’s understandable: the cultural influence of these regions is immense (be it in ideas, music or cinema), so why would literature be different?
Don’t get me wrong:
J.R.R. Tolkien, George Orwell, Harper Lee, Ernest Hemingway and so many other Western authors shaped our culture and our understanding of the world. They are brilliant, their books are timeless.
But also, think Gabriel García Márquez and the unique Latin American magic realism of his works.
Think Fyodor Dostoevsky and his absolute mastery of addressing deep philosophical and personal dilemmas.
Think Astrid Lindgren and the generations of children all over the world growing up with her books.
Think Sayaka Murata and how influential the Japanese contemporary literature is getting.
I am not saying that you should stop reading books by the English or American authors. The only point I am advocating for is this:
Expand your views by reading books from countries other than yours, or from the cultures other than the mainstream ones.
For me, this approach to reading is due to speaking various languages, and part of learning a language is reading books in it.
You don’t need to read “foreign” books in the original, though. There are so many beautiful translated editions out there that you don’t need to worry.
Want to read more global literature but don’t know where to start?
The way I approach it is as follows: I think of reading as sort of travelling across the world.
For example, I may feel like “exploring” Latin America, Eastern Europe, South Korea or Nigeria.
I then do some research on the books from these places, and since I will want to read something anyway, I casually do a month of Latin American literature, a month of South Korean books, and so on.
I find keeping it within one month’s “bracket” very helpful because it lifts off the pressure from the whole thing (you are not becoming a scholar of, say, Polish or German literature — you are just trying a few new books, that’s all).
If you like the books you picked and you feel like reading more from this region, just go on for another month: our reading habits and moods change, so you do you.
But if you ready to move on, just pick a new country or region for the following month and take it from there.
This way, in a few months’ time you will have discovered some beautiful books and will have a feeling that you have travelled far, without leaving your cosy room.
We need to hear the voices from all over the world, and to open our minds to the experiences different from ours (which may be not that different after all?).
On my Medium, I regularly post my personal compilations of the books from different regions, such as this list of great Latin American reads here.
Come back for more world literature related lists and reflections :)
