The Idea of Universality in Literature - Essay Example

Firstname Lastname Instructor Name Course Name May 18th 2009 The Idea of Universality in Literature The term universality has been widely used in the field of literature. Universality in literature is often attributed to a quality or characteristic, the existence of which is consistent throughout the various literary pieces across the world. However, there has always been a debate regarding the necessity or significance of universality in literature. Charles Larson, in his The Idea of Universality in Literature, says that universality is a pejorative term. He says that the concept of universality has been very misunderstood while interpreting non-western literature. The way this particular term has been used has often overlooked and disregarded the multiplicity of cultural experiences in non-western literature. He says that the West has often assumed and established that their own culture should be the standard of measuring the universality of non-western literature. The main idea that Larson tries to convey through his work is that, each work of literature can be interpreted in more ways than one depending upon the tradition and culture of the interpreter and that the west should not expect the rest of the world to react the same way that it does towards a particular work of literature. In his essay he gives an example of an African short story by Ousmane, called Black Girl. In this story an African girl is working in a French family. When the family decides to move to France, she is thrilled to go along with them. But when she gets there things are very different. She is subject to racial discrimination, neglect by her fellow Africans and is overworked. The girl finally commits suicide unable to stand her misfortunes. Larson says that to a Westerner, this seems like a simple melodramatic story of racial prejudice. But to an African reader this could be totally different, for suicide is the biggest taboo in the African society and is viewed differently. He says that the assumption of the West, that the rest of the world will also view this story as a melodramatic account of racial discrimination is wrong. The fact that the African view of suicide is totally ignored is prime evidence that universality is a pejorative term and that literature is judged only by western standards. The main question to be addressed here is whether the term universality is truly pejorative as suggested by Larson, or does it facilitate deeper reading and understanding of literary and cultural texts. The answer to this is that universality is a concept that aids understanding of certain literary and cultural texts in specific contexts. However universality of literature is seen to facilitate deeper understanding of literary texts only as long as it takes into account the cultural experiences involved in the literature. When universality begins to shred or strip away the factors that are most distinctive of the work, then it becomes pejorative. Universality is a concept that must be used only to aid understanding of literary works. It must neither ignore nor take away what is distinguishing in that particular work, in an attempt to make easy a deeper reading of the same. Additionally the concept of universality must not turn a blind eye to the multicultural experiences or aspects in the literary work as each work may be interpreted differently according to the traditional and cultural background of the reader. Hence universality is usually seen to aid understanding and is not pejorative as long as it considers and takes into account the cultural experiences and distinctive features of the literary work. The next question to be addressed in this paper is whether it is possible to understand the works to be read in this semester from the perspective of universality. It is possible to analyze the works from the perspective of universality, as long as this universality aids us in making a deeper reading of the works and does not ignore the distinctive characteristics of the works and the cultural significance of each. The third question to be answered in this paper is whether the universal structure according to Larson’s framework influences the interpretation of three major literary works. Larson’s universal structure framework does have a considerable influence on the way that the following three stories have been interpreted. The first story to be considered is One Day of Life by Argueta (1991). One Day of Life is a story that showcases a typical day in the life of a peasant family trapped in the corruption and terror of the civil war in El Salvador. The story primarily revolves around the life of an Indian woman called Lupe and her young granddaughter Adolfina. One day when she goes to the bank, Adolfina, unknowingly gets caught in a demonstration and a cross fire by the police and ends up saving another young girl, following which she begins to fight for equality. The author uses a poetic language to describe the horrors of an oppressive government and the typical El Salvadorian lifestyle of living one day at a time. Argueta beautifully portrays the character of Adolfina as a young girl, who is forced to evolve into a stronger woman and is finding her place in the world through the horrifying experiences and increased responsibilities. The author clearly tells us how the innocence is snatched away from young Central American girls due to the horrors of the civil war. One Day of Life evokes every kind of human emotion from the heart and soul. Some of the themes in the story such as innocence and responsibility, hope, homelessness and violent and non-violent fighting etc., establish its universality. These are themes that are seen in the stories of most oppressed and war ravaged countries. The oppressed community is often ill-treated, subject to heavy responsibilities at a young age and homelessness is something that has been a constant throughout. Hope, to move towards a better life is always present among those oppressed. While the story evokes some universal human emotions and the themes are universally understandable, the cultural aspect behind the story should not be ignored. The story primarily focuses on the Indian communities in Central America. Argueta describes the characteristics of Indian families and communities very effectively. Hence while considering the universality of the literature an attempt to understand the Indian way of life and the cultural intricacies must be made, as opposed to choosing only those aspects that are universal and ignoring the cultural aspects of the story. Disgrace by Coetzee (1999), is a story of a divorces, ageing professor who is unable to resist having affairs with his female students. When he is discovered by the college authorities who as him to apologize, he refuses and instead resigns his job as professor. After this he goes on to live with his daughter Lucie in a small and remote African village, in her farm. There he forms a cautious and temporary emotional truce with his daughter. But when his daughter is raped one day during a burglary leaving her pregnant with a child, he finds that the dilemmas of South Africa are inevitable and indisputable. The author has been very skillful in pitching moral codes of political correctness against the different values of Romantic poetry in his suggestion of personal relationships. The personal dilemmas of father and daughter can be seen as a understated metaphor for historical unaccountability of one culture to another. The universality of this book is prominent in the way it encompasses the human condition. Its ability to give an account of the universal condition of whiteness and white consciousness has made it an extremely popular work of literature. The book also questions the universal concepts of free will, moral agency, public and private life and challenges which reveal that feminist concerns have universal importance and consequence. However in attempting to understand the universal concepts mentioned above, the underlying and unique concepts of the book such as, enlightened liberalism and brutalizing enlightenment must not be ignored. Interpreter of Maladies by Lahiri (1999), is a collection of short stories. The title story Interpreter of Maladies is the most acclaimed and popular among the rest. The story revolves primarily around a second generation Indian-American couple. The story is multilayered and portrays the internal struggle that the protagonist Mrs.Das goes through, and her relationship with a tour-guide in India, Mr.Kapasi. The author has beautifully depicted the internal struggle and conflict that many women go through. During a visit to India, the Das family goes for a tour of Sun Temple. There Mrs.Das gets acquainted with the tour guide Mr.Kapasi, who is extremely curious about her. He finds that she is also curious about him, who works as an interpreter of in a doctor’s office translating the maladies into Gujarati for some of his patients. It is then that she discloses to him that one of her kids were not born to her husband but born to a friend of his who had visited them once. Mrs.Das reveals her dark secret to him in hope that he will be able to provide a remedy for her as an Interpreter of Maladies. While the story evokes the universal themes of pain, guilt, boredom, failure of marriage, extra marital affairs etc., it also creates an opportunity to compare the presence of juxtaposed cultural values and practices. Another universal theme handled in this text is the condition of immigrants. Lahiri effectively depicts the lives of Indians and Indian Americans who are wedged between the culture they inherited and the culture that they are forced to live in due to various circumstances. Since this book is a juxtaposition of two different cultures it is important to understand how both cultures work, in an attempt to make a deeper reading of the book. In conclusion, while universality is a concept that facilitates a deeper and more thorough understanding of literature works, it is important to take into account the distinctive characteristics of the book, as well as the different multicultural experiences that are part of the literature. If the above two aspects are ignored, universality will simply become pejorative. References Argueta, M (1991). One Day of Life. Vintage Books, 1991 Coetzee, J M (1999). Disgrace. Secker & Warburg, 1999 Lahiri, J (1999). Interpreter of Maladies. Harper Collins (New Delhi) 1999 Larson, C. Heroic Ethnocentrism : The Idea of Universality in Literature. Read More