Well, trolls come in every shape, yes?
Recently I posted about the lack of leading roles (or even fully formed roles) for women, GLBTQ, and ethnic characters (link here). When the post was shared on a world literature discussion board, the response was…interesting.
The discussion that ensued pointed out that I couldn’t possibly be referring to world lit because, well, the characters came from around the world. And of course, the original post “must” be referring to American lit, because again, world lit springs from beyond those borders.
But…not true.
World Lit is defined broadly as any work that circulates beyond the borders of its home nation. Therefore any American work that is sold in any other country is defined as world lit. So strike one.
More importantly, the post was about diversity in literature. So any book that does not integrate diverse characters fails the test whether it circulates beyond the boundaries of its own country or not. Strike two.
Finally, discussions should be enlightening, debate should be firm but polite. Not snarky and ego-puffed and snobby. Strike three.
The troll is out.