In our short time here on earth, it is important to travel and to see the world and to experience different cultures. It’s also important to read about the culture before you go visit it. Now, I’m not just talking about different guide books that point out important things to see while you’re there, but also novels that have been written in those cultures so that you can better understand the culture from someone who has lived it firsthand. For example, I desperately want to go to Ireland before I die. Before I go, I have set myself a goal to read most if not all of James Joyce’s works before I go out there. There are other Irish authors like Brian Friel and Oscar Wilde, but this is the goal that I’ve set myself and I want to complete it. Starting with "Dubliners" and working my way up to the infamous "Ulysses" I want to see Ireland through Joyce’s eyes before I see them through my own so I can have a better connection for when I actually visit.
It is also important to read novels from different cultures even if you don’t plan on visiting because it gives you a kind of understanding of the culture that differs from your own. As another example, I have been reading more and more Chinese, Japanese and Latin American novels so that I may dive right in and observe the culture and grow to have a better understanding of it. A new interest that can be shared with others around me. I began reading a novel recently called "The Blind Owl" and as I was reading the introduction, I was presented with the information that this small book was one of the most important novels ever to come out of Iran. Think of it this way: "The Blind Owl" is to Iran is what "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is to America. The importance of reading a novel that shows you a different culture is fantastic because if you ever have any questions about what you are reading or have finished reading, the internet can no doubt help you in your quest for answers. This way you can talk with people of that culture and get their side of the story, they can explain certain events that happened in the novel that you might not know about and it gets you to converse with people outside of your circle of friends, someone from across the world!
Finally, one of the most important things about reading literature that is from a different culture is that you will get to read things about your own country that you wouldn’t necessarily think about or know about. For example, if you were to read a novel from one of the Caribbean islands, you would discover that the corrupt leader that came to power was only put in power because the United States government at the time said that they could come to power. On the other side of the coin, you could also get hilarious dialogue between the people who have been in that culture for their entire lives and the visiting tourists from different nations.
Reading about different cultures should be something that you want to do, not something that you have to do. It should be about something that interests you and not something that a professor is making you do. Read about a culture that interests you and wrap your mind around a culture that is different than your own. Get culture shock from reading a book and learn to travel the world through books as well as planes.
