I suppose the meaning of universal longings is that readers' longings and desires could be shared and echoed from reading one same book. I think literature does echo "universal longings" and helps readers to connect with other readers through the same kind of feelings and emotions they received when they read the same book. When reading a book, readers tend to connect themselves into the characters (protagonists) as if they are the ones who are experiencing what they read on the text. In the case of A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner, I feel as if I am Amir and Mariam as I read both novels; I saw Afghanistan in their perspectives on different matters in Afghan society. From doing that I received messages from Hosseini about ethnic, gender inequality, child abuse, religious exploitation and many others. I truly felt connected and less lonely when I was reading these two novels because I knew I was experiencing and going through the same things (emotions/feelings) that other readers have also been experiencing.
Hey, Kevin, you did a great job of arguing the universal longings. I do agree with you that the "universal longings" can help readers to connect with other readers through the same kind of feelings and emotions they received. like most of us, I felt I was trying to think through the views of the characters as well so that I could feel the some feeling of them. However, don't you think that a value of a literature could be different by the different audience? For example, as we were reading this novel, even though everyone may think through the views of the main female characters, because that was the significance of Hosseini when he was expressing the feeling of the females. But I think maybe we could feel more than you as females, it does not mean you can not understand, but I think the same gender may feel more deeply. Therefor, don't you think the different audience can read the same literature in different ways because of their own background or personal experiences?
ReplyDeleteThat is a good question. I think different audience tends to view things with different perspectives, which can vary due to their background, life experiences, and even personality they have. There are many variables that will cause audiences to interpret the literature differently from one another. After all, this is why literature can be so interesting because not only it helps the readers becoming critical thinkers, but also all the possible ideas and thoughts that readers can breed.
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