Opposite Directions

The Covid-19 pandemic is a powerful reminder that there is only one humanity and that all individuals are subject to infections and illness. However, news media and the internet are overflowing with data that reminds us of the fact that we are living in an unequal world in which even neighbors close their borders and observe how other countries are faring in the battle against the virus. Literature is no stranger to these opposing orientations, between local and global, national and universal. This essay will address some of the historical uses of global issues in literature and how they play a particular role in world literature, as well as comparing them to the current situation. Traumatic literature is of particular concern in terms of representation and decorum, and the formal inventiveness that this demands and inspires.