Literature should be the bedrock of a society

BY Staff
Published: November 11, 2008 in Letters

Dear Editor,
Ian McDonald’s tireless voice calling for literature to be the cornerstone of Guy-ana’s education system again sounds a warning call to the leaders. In his column last Sunday, Dr McDonald threw out a challenge to the University of Guyana to raise its voice as well.
American literary critic Harold Bloom’s book called Genius attempted to analyze the life and works of 100 great writers whose writings have defined the human experience. In that book Bloom defined literary genius as, simply, originality of creation. Genius, greatness and originality become synonymous. And this greatness must have two values: the ability to stand the test of time and become timeless; and the ability to forever shine with the aesthetic quality, the appreciated beauty, that wrapped it in delight at its birth.
In this, no one stands above Gerard Manley Hopkins. He has created original beauty that acts on and changes space and time for anyone who studies his vibrant rhythms of words.

But having said all that, I must make one slightly critical comment about Ian McDonald’s thoughts.
Literature transcends aesthetics. I agree with Bloom that literary genius creates civilization. Literary creation invents original solutions to common human problems. The aesthetic clothing is but a nice decoration − as if truth must come as a beauty queen. But to passively see literature as appreciation of beauty is to fall into the school of guys like Oscar Wilde, and some others whom I don’t care for, including the Marquis de Sade. They all created aesthetic wonders. But what value beyond a passive appreciation for the beauty of thought have they contributed to human society?

If, as EO Wilson urges us, we as a civilization move inevitably towards a consilience of knowledge fields, and if literature is the most profound and truthful of those knowledge fields simply because it builds educated imaginations, as Northrop Frye would have us cultivate, then a life of literature should lead us to more than just criticism of appreciation.

Literature should prepare us to design original creations for the betterment of ourselves and our future. In our societies’ failing to achieve this purpose, I believe, lies the immense tragedy of our descent into the dark abyss of what one can call the 21st century’s global ‘illiterature’ culture.

Literature should be the bedrock of a society. It is not just a scholarly subject like others. Just as Maths and Science are foundational subjects for the administrative and industrializing functions in society, literature serves as the foundation for a thinking society − a society that must create original solutions for the myriad of human challenges that humankind battles. Literature is the toolbox that builds a noble human race, even overcoming dark human nature.

No society should allow anyone who did not receive a sound education in literature to qualify as a politician, a scientist, a teacher, a businessperson, an administrator, or to hold any position of responsibility. Because how else can such a person create an original solution without the literary foundation of our civilization?

These are the questions Al Creighton and the UG dons must deal with, as well as the Minister of Education. UG’s literature programme should be the backbone for the innovative, creative and solution-driven society to advance forward. All scientific innovation, technological originality, industrial creations and advance in the quality of life should grow out of a sound literature programme that touches and educates every citizen. A society thus trained for originality of thought and action becomes great. Sadly, this all sounds like wishing for utopia.

But Ian McDonald does us a great service to introduce into the national conversation these thoughts. I hope someone with some influence would act as he urges.
Yours faithfully,
Shaun Michael Samaroo

Comments

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13 Comments

bakr says:

November 11, 2008 at 7:15 am

Does good literature in a culture lead to good morals? Higher standards?

One is reminded here of the vain and foolish question in George Steiner’s “Language and Silence”

“Could men who read Goethe committ the atrocities of the jewish holocaust.”

Literature is supposed, like magical incantation, to enoble. The Quran and scriptures can do so. Can Lady Chatterley’s lover or Macbeth or Cinderella ? A lot of peoples seem to do quite well without the course in great books. Bloom has an interest in promoting “the canon”.

British imperialism, the “two cultures” argument, all of the 19th century stuff conincided with some of the worst atrocities european committed. On the other hand, slavery was both installed and destroyed by accompanying literary works.

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Krishna Nand Prasad says:

November 11, 2008 at 9:08 am

Excellent observation, Mr Samaroo.

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Shaun Michael Samaroo says:

November 11, 2008 at 10:29 am

As someone who studied theology at Bible College, and who is grounded in evangelical Christianity, I appreciate the argument that classical literature - and the Arts as a whole - can be a shockingly corrupting force, working against good social mores.
But literature, framed in the pre-supposition of a Judeo-Christian social context, has done wonders for the global society, overall. Human rights, social justice and the idea of individual equality all flow from the wellspring of Judeo-Christian thought.
In fact, much of the justice system today is based on the Englishman Samuel Rutherford’s Lex Rex theory, a decidedly Biblical perspective of society. And much of the literary canon does pre-suppose a Judeo-Christian thought form - even so-called atheistic classics like Christopher Marlowe’s Dr Faustus.
In the overall social engineering scheme of things, history has proven that a people grounded in classical literature - being able to comprehend their daily experience and compose responses to such - and equipped with what is known as spiritual intelligence, does achieve greatness as a people group.

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- Amarie says:
  
  November 12, 2008 at 11:57 am
  
  I’ve never though to consider the impact of religion on literature. It should make an interesting read or discussion. Would you be so kind as to suggest reading material on the subject?
  Sidebar: Mr. Samaroo, did you teach at the leading highschool in Guyana between 1985 and 1990?
bakr says:

November 11, 2008 at 10:51 am

Nicely argued Shaun Michael.

In fact Ian McD’s “tireless voice” is a voice speaking for the soul of a gentleman who believes, as certain specifically English gentlemen believed, that a “good classical education” made you a well rounded man. With it came certain assumptions about class. It was preparation for the leisured and ruling class occupations. You had to know greek or latin too. The curriculum went back to selected European poets and effaced, until fairly recently, entire millenia of chinese or indian or arabic literature. In short, there was a very narrow ignorance on the part of the very people who would soon bring us, in translation, the best of that non western literature.

While the kingdom was preparing well read and rounded men, Germany pioneered a technical culture from which we all benefit. HG Wells in a memorable look at the systems as the evolved at the time the ideas were current, has written that the idea of a well educated person has to evolve with time. The US Ivy league schools are generally offering a core curriculum that gives a snippet of all the great works and some more.

Concerning the power of western and judeo christian ideas on concepts of social equality etc, check Subramanyam in the lrb.co.uk (last week’s edition) mentioning how hiduism is repositioning and re-portraying itself under foreign influence. That being said, bear in mind that patterns of colonial domination and exploitation, which was a major feature of much of”modern times” have their origin in a totally different European experience and come from templates different from anything found in the Bible.

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quibian says:

November 11, 2008 at 12:25 pm

yeah right! it is the same people schooled in literature and religious teachings that committed atrocities on human beings. hitler, stalin, bin laden, george bush etc.

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Cochore says:

November 11, 2008 at 1:31 pm

Literature as part of an early academic curriculum?… but of course and absolutely even at the level of junior high or primary schools, however the elephant in the room nowadays is the Television and the Internet. Educators must continue to search for new ways of making literature attractive to students again, because the old approach is too boring. Here the competition, at it’s barest minimum is a fight between words and images.

During my time as a young teenager, I had no choice but to read and fall in love with words and library books, simply because there was nothing constructive to do with free time. Most teenagers today are preoccupied with watching music videos and surfing the internet, so by the time they get to college or university the idea of reading and writing become a chore. At this point, literature is the least attractive elective on the curriculum, where library and books are not for fun but for research only. Literature has to happen during the student’s early teenage years or else the beauty and the moral lessons to learn will be lost forever.

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Caesar Agustus says:

November 11, 2008 at 9:31 pm

Bedrock of what society? The New Building Society? That might be right,because the Guyana society,inundated by crime,it appears their literature was also stolen from them.

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Madan Jagdeo says:

November 12, 2008 at 11:39 am

”You have learned to read,now read to learn”…was a quotation hung on the wall of our school library…yes literature is a powerful force in the lives of people…but we do not have to be confined to ”English” or Christian literature…we should teach the great literary works of all writers regardless of race ,nationality or religious convictions…make the books available and let the people read…there have been literary giants from every corner of the world .

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MAVERICK says:

November 12, 2008 at 2:10 pm

Absolutely…….!! As well as a prerequisite to governace and leadership apart from ashni who else in government can bost of having this most basic necessity to lead,we are stuck in the quagmire of ignorance.

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VIJAY SINGH says:

November 12, 2008 at 9:42 pm

In my days at high school in Guyana, many of my friends read a lot and we regularly discussed, Tagore, Tolstoy, Naipaul, Martin Carter, Shakespeare and other literary giants. These days the students talk about 50cents, buju banton, basketball and comics.

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- Caesar Agustus says:
  
  November 16, 2008 at 8:37 pm
  
  ou forgot THE PERFUMED GARDEN and LADY CHATTERLY’S LOVER.
Shaun Michael Samaroo says:

November 12, 2008 at 1:33 pm

nope. never taught at any high school. I was a Journalist in the 1990’s.

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