Literature is life

Mar 12, 2022 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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If given the choice of deciding whether to study English Literature (of what the CXC calls English B), the majority of our students would decline. Were it not compulsory in many schools, most students would hesitate in opting to study English Literature.
The study of English literature in our schools is boring. It is confined mainly to examining a few conservative texts, poems and drama. As such most students have become drilled in associating literature solely with the required texts which they are mandated to study.
The agony of enduring weekly literature classes is compounded by the poor manner in which the subject is taught. Not many of those teachers who assume responsibility for providing guidance and instruction in this subject are trained or suitably qualified to do so. The majority amble through the syllabus. How then does one assign a teacher to provide instruction in a subject in which he or she is poorly grounded?
In addition, little or no explanation is ever provided as to the nature and purpose of literature. As such, most students do not understand to what ends they are required to study literature.
Most of them are told that the study of literature is necessary since reading gives one an advantage in understanding ideas and in expressing such ideas. In other words, if they wish to write well and even perhaps to speak well, the study of literature is necessary.
Not many students are convinced. Privately, they will question why they should spend two or more years studying Shakespeare, Naipaul, Wordsworth, Scott, Langston Hughes and even the tedious and, at times, incomprehensible Walcott? They will question if literature is about enriching one’s language then why limit the study materials to stories, poems and drama.
Are the lyrics of rap music or the screenplay of some of the modern movies not equally eligible to qualify as literature? And why is only the written word and drama considered suitable for literature instruction? What about the visual expressions such as art, craft and songs? Why aren’t these qualified as constituting part of the study of literature?
Even newspaper columnists are encouraging students to study literature because it will make them better writers and speakers. One columnist, in another newspaper, is fond of repeating that the value of literature is to be found in the search for finding the best or most accurate words to describe the human condition.
However, the ability to write better is a derived and incidental benefit of the study of literature. It is not the reason for or the value of literature.
So why should our students study literature? One reason is that the study of history past would be sterile were it not for literature which allows us to have a feel of the sensibilities and sensitivities of a prior age.
Michel Meyer, a professor emeritus, has provided other sound reasons for studying literature. In one of his texts, he says that one of the most important reasons for studying literature is that it nourishes our emotional lives. We are all unique in our own ways but we experience many of the emotions which others before us experienced. When the poet writes, he or she may be expressing thoughts, ideas about things which we can relate to or which we may one day experience. As Meyer states, “The inner life that good writers reveal in their characters often gives us glimpses of some portion of ourselves.” The experience itself may be imagined but the emotion it evokes is real.
A second value recounted by Meyer is that literature broadens our perspectives on the world. Literature he says allows us to move beyond the boundaries of our own lives and limited associates and introduces us to people who are different from us and distant from where we live.
A third value is that literature makes us more aware of life’s possibilities. One may add it also makes us aware of life’s limitations. Meyer says that people who read literature experience more of life and have a keener sense of our common human identity.
The study of literature therefore has to go beyond the skill in the use or play of words. The study of this subject cannot be pursued simply to develop a proficiency in their usage, including their appropriateness or accuracy.
Literature is about life. It is concerned with the study of life and life’s vast canvas of themes. The study of literature can help prepare us for a better life.
But just how many of our teachers can truly explain to students that literature is about life and its study is just the tonic they need for their continuing journey? Paradoxically while the literature is part of the humanities, it can well also be considered a study of life.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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