Literature is definitely recognized as possessing somewhat uniting qualities— both bringing people of extremely different backgrounds together while also stressing the usefulness of human interaction and relations. Moran frequently quotes Richard Hoggart in chapter two of Interdisciplinarity. One of these quotes reads “literature is uniquely concerned with the total human response, with ‘the quality of life,’ in the fullest sense we are able to imagine” (50-51). First of all, it seems like quite a bold claim to make that a “total human response” is even something that exists and something that we are capable of comprehending. Second, to attribute literature as being uniquely concerned with this seems to praise literature without actually providing a thorough argument as to why and how literature concerns itself with “the total human response.” I’m just not so sure that such a thing exists.
Moran talks about Hoggart’s text The Uses of Literacy, which consists of the first section ‘An “Older” Order’ and a second section ‘Yielding Place to New’. The first section “describes a traditional working-class culture organized around family and neighbourhood rituals, and is largely sympathetic and celebratory” and the second section “laments the dangerous influence of a new form of Americanized popular culture on working class life, a ‘candy floss world’ of popular songs, ‘spicy’ magazines, and titillating novels” (49-50). Even without having read these two sections of Moran’s text, I’m sure we can all imagine the numerous differences between the interests, everyday lives, and cultures between these “old” and “new” generations of people. Even using our own parents as examples, I’m sure most of us can see the vast differences between the ways in which they grew up and the ways we have grown up. With time comes change, and all we can do, as the complex people that we are, is to adapt and deal with these changes in the ways we feel are best.
Now imagine how much more drastic these cultural differences are between us and, lets say, a small African village. Obviously not taking language barriers into consideration here, but how well do you think we’d be able to relate to these people? I’d say we’d have a much better shot with people like our parents—an older generation indeed, but still one that encompasses somewhat similar ideals and values as us. And I think this is one of the harshest realities out there—that we are completely oblivious to the significance that lies in the differences between us and other people out there. Of course, there has to be some level of acceptance here in order to continue functioning and living our lives in the way that our culture and area restricts us to, but I feel like there also must be some sort of push for curiosity and determination in order to create connections and draw meaning from these differences too.
So, when I read Hoggart’s claim that literature is “uniquely concerned with the total human response, with ‘the quality of life,’ in the fullest sense we are able to imagine,” I can’t help but feel skeptical as to how such a thing is possible. What is the total human response?