Why WORLD Literature?

Universities may offer majors like World Lit and Comparative Lit, but region or language-specific studies like English, French Lit, Spanish Lit, etc. are traditionally the norm. They continue to dominate. The categories we study in school both affect and reflect our culture's understanding of literature - right down to the topic divisions in Suite101's Reading section.

The problem with the traditional categories is that they reinforce a false perception of what literature is. Great novels and poetry are about the human heart, not about national boundaries. Even authors who prefer to write stories that could only be set in a particular time or place are influenced by great authors from around the world and across history.

Writers have always known that they are connected beyond national boundaries. For example, when Orhan Pamuk was persecuted by the Turkish Republic for, among other things, supporting Turkish authors' freedom of speech, writers from around the world - José Saramago, Gabriel García Marquez, Günter Grass, Umberto Eco, Carlos Fuentes, Juan Goytisolo, John Updike, and Mario Vargas Llosa - voiced their support.

Examining literature as a whole tradition allows us to talk about the connections between times, authors, and genres. It also allows us to recognize the importance of authors from non-Western countries who might otherwise be disregarded as "other".

Hopefully, the World Literatures section will become an active forum for topics like these. That's why I'm excited to be the new Featured Writer here, writing my first blog post. Let's start talking about books!

- Elizabeth