The declining interest in reading is a cause of concern for
Mark Roche, Notre Dame's dean of Arts and Letters. His new book,
Why Literature Matters in the 21st Century, published
by Yale University Press, makes the case that great literature
is being neglected today even though it is needed more than ever.
Among other things, we recently asked the scholar of German literature
why he believes that to be so and what does Liberty Valance have
to do with all this any way?
Notre Dame Magazine: So why does literature
matter in the 21st century? And why did you feel the need to write
a book that defends the importance of great literature? It doesn't
seem like something that should need defending.
Mark Roche: No, but, in fact, literature
is under attack on several different fronts today. On a societal
level reading in general is less popular. Just after I finished
my book, the National Endowment for the Arts published its study
"Reading at Risk," and its main finding was that every age group
is reading less now than ever. People today no longer spend time
with literary works partly because of the huge investment in video
culture.
Also, we live in the Age of Technology and that has had a profound
impact shaping our idea of what matters. And there is an increasing
sense in our society that what matters are "instrumental ends."
Something is valuable only in its utility in gaining something
else. There's a failure to recognize intrinsic value, value for
its own sake, which is central to art; the idea of intrinsic value
has receded in importance.
There has also been neglect at universities. In most literature
departments less attention is now paid to great literary works.
Many scholars today are interested more in the cultural and historical
context surrounding the literary work rather than the work itself.
Was the author African American? Gay? Female? People are now as
likely to study fashion or cookbooks or the publishing industry
in the Weimar Republic as they are the literary works of that
era. This shift is an example of technology's effect. It has to
do with literature in its "instrumental" context. "What is reading
being used for?" is a question that dominates.
Finally, there is an over-arching interest in theory. Many faculty
prefer to teach essays and books on culture, society and literature
instead of the great works of literature themselves. I don't want
to overstate the case, but to some degree I believe literature
is being neglected today.
NDM: So why does that matter?
Roche: Great literature has
important things to say to us in our age. In a world driven by
technology, literature can give us a much-needed counter experience
to that world. I think there are three tremendous challenges facing
our age. One is the environmental crisis, another is the relation
of wealthy nations to poor nations, and finally there is the ethical
crisis stemming from a breakdown of traditional values, new developments
in science and technology, and globalization. Great literature
can offer perspectives on all these issues.
NDM: If you had to limit it to a few, what serious contemporary
literary works would you say have the most relevance to current
problems? This is, of course, an impossible question.
Roche: Yes, it's a difficult question.
I would put it this way: There are certainly many fine contemporary
works that are relevant. For example, Ecotopia by Ernest
Callenbach is a very interesting rendition of the utopian genre
that takes into account the challenges of the environment. But
I would argue as well that there are works from earlier ages that
have just as much relevance. The works of Sophocles, Goethe and
Kafka are as important and meaningful as when they were written.
One mark of great literature is that it is transhistorical, that
is, "for the ages." Great fiction that addresses contentment with
less, that elevates friendship over materialism, that treats clashes
between and within cultures, that deals with inequality in society,
all would be of relevance no matter when they were written.
NDM: Do you think the role of the "literary prophet,"
such as George Orwell in 1984, is of increasing importance
in our age?
Roche: There is this notion that artists'
depictions are more real than everyday reality because ours are
scattered, uninformed, unfocused. Hegel gets at this idea when
he says that a great portrait can be more like the individual
than the real individual himself. The painter captures the essence,
the deeper reality. So too with literary artists, they may present
reality more clearly. And as problems in our society become more
severe, and our actions have effects over great distances and
time, the need for the poet as prophet, the novelist as prophet
becomes more acute.
One of the great things about art is that there is no "one"
prophecy. There are multiple windows to solving problems through
art. You mentioned 1984. Aldous Huxley's Brave New
World is equally prophetic, though in the opposite way. One
of the works I mention in my book is Neil Postman's Amusing
Ourselves to Death, which is a critique of the television
culture. And there is a sense in this work that rather than the
tyranny of a security state doing us in, we will be lulled by
entertainment media into the kinds of behaviors that are at odds
with our highest human potential. And it is up to the artist to
remind us of our highest human potential.
NDM: Are you hopeful that reading and interest in great
literature will forge a comeback?
Roche: I think there's a real hunger
for reading, but one of the problems of our age is that there
are so many distractions. The popularity of book discussion groups
and books on tape are good signs. Some films also enhance the
popularity of great literature, such as the resurgence of interest
in the work of Jane Austen resulting from all the popular films
of her work.
NDM: Are there any films that you would put in the category
of "great literature"?
Roche: I respect immensely the classic
western The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, starring John
Wayne and Jimmy Stewart. Along with Notre Dame Professor Vittorio
Hösle, I once wrote an essay on the movie for a scholarly
journal. It's a popular film but also a deep and rich work that
examines the transition in culture from an age when ordinary folk
were protected by heroes and acts of individual courage to a more
progressive age when we are protected by institutionalized justice
and due process. There's a lament of that even as the affirmation
is celebrated. I'm also a fan of other John Ford films and of
Alfred Hitchcock. In fact, I think Hitchcock's 1953 film I
Confess, about a priest who hears the confession of a murderer
and then, through a series of circumstances, is himself put on
trial, is one of the great religious works of the 20th century.
(April 2005)
