There's a lot of talk lately about the fact that Western literature isn't multicultural enough. All I have to ask is this: when hasn't Western literature been multicultural? During the time of Shakespeare? Only if you think England and Spain share the exact same culture. The famed writer Cervantes, after all, was Shakespeare's peer. Rumor has it they even died on the same day.
What about the 18th and 19th centuries? There's no way Western literature could have been multicultural then, right? Wrong. Phillis Wheately, the African American female poet, lived and published during that period. So did the multiracial novelist Alexandre Dumas, who penned such classics as "The Three Musketeers," and "The Count of Monte Cristo."
The 20th and 21st centuries? Forget about it. Langston Hughes, Wilbur Wright, Toni Morrison, Salmon Rushdie, Gwendolyn Brooks, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Zadie Smith and countless others have – and continue to be – published to much acclaim. Why, then, are there such resounding claims that Western literature has a tradition of being, well, prejudiced?
The primary answer is a pretty simple one. For years whites, particularly white males, reaped the benefits of living in the Western world. Therefore the vast majority of people who had the time, education and connections to sit around and practice the craft of writing were dudes with white skin. It's as simple as that. Now that women, blacks, Hispanics and others are finding themselves on solid footing in our society, more and more authors who aren't white or male are writing more and more literary works.
What bothers me is the fact that today many deride the “dead white male” author. That term sounds about as prejudiced as it is. Sadly, some very respected people love using it. They think it makes them open-minded. Just like they think taking the classic works of dead white authors out of the classroom will make students better learners.
Classic literature is classic because it's good, not because it was penned by someone from a particular demographic. Don't believe me? Ask Salmon Rushdie, a man who's perhaps the greatest writer in the English language today. He's far from a dead white guy, or even a live white guy, but he's enormously influenced by white writers from the past. Why? Because many of them wrote great stuff.
And great stuff – not the politics of demographics – should be what literature is all about.
