Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment

English literature is anything but insular

Rear view of man removing book from shelf while standing in store.
‘The aftermath of imperialism gives us English-language writers from every continent.’ Photograph: Cavan Images/Getty Images/Cavan Images RF

Julian Heddy writes that the “overwhelmingly monolingual culture that prevails” in the UK “accounts for the insularity that informs (or skews) contemporary cultural life” (Letters, 27 September). This ignores the advantage that English has over other European languages, namely that writers in English come from a far wider variety of cultures.

The aftermath of imperialism gives us English-language writers from every continent. A great deal of cultural diversity is represented in the literature of the US, for example, or in the wealth of Indian writing in English. And come to that, British society is hardly homogeneous.

British cultural life may suffer from insularity, but if it does it’s a choice; it’s not caused by insufficient literature in translation.
John Wilson
London

• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.