Culture in Literature

[Zoey McKinney]

I think this is a really great point - that international fiction does not always *seem* international on a surface level. I think sometimes we read foreign literature expecting the characters to eat foreign food or wear foreign clothes or live in a setting vastly different from our own. In reality, what we often find is that there is more universality to our stories than we thought. Authors are more likely to focus on those universal interests than cultural differences (depending on their genre and purpose), reminding us of how much we have in common as humans. On the other hand, Professor Bernard's lecture demonstrated how "culture" goes much deeper than food, holidays, language, etc, though these are often the aspects that are easiest for us to fit into our curriculum. The ideas he brought up of mass mobilization, the relationship between religion and nature, and the utilitarian view of emotions and relationships are also part of Chinese culture, though they are less obvious. If we look deeper in our reading and teaching, we can help students understand this point about culture as well.