Literature on Lockdown 5: #CultureConnectsUs

It’s a long-standing joke in lockdown now – among those of us quarantined, self-isolating, or lucky enough to keep working from home – that we don’t know which day it is. Or even which week. And did I shower this morning, or was it yesterday? Our immediate surroundings have been so similar for so long, we’ve lost the variation we typically use to put our memories in order.But of course plenty of changes have occurred. Most notably, in many countries the rules of lockdown have developed – relaxed in some places, tightened in others. Schools are reopening; hairdressers; bookshops. In some countries, restaurants are staying closed voluntarily, in others, at the government’s decree.It’s this difference, between legal instruction and personal choice, that is especially resonant in the current crisis. The difference between what you choose to do or not do, what you do and don’t agree with personally, versus what your government says you can do, has always existed. We make those choices every day. But they’re more pronounced now – more obvious. In New Zealand, schools have reopened, but attendance is voluntary. Parents and children are invited to look around, consider the health of themselves, their families, and their neighbours, and decide on what – or who – to put at risk.It’s this decision that literature might help us with. Poetry offers the unfiltered single perspective; novels the broad expanse of a country; short stories the tight focus on a region. Travel writing,... Continue reading at 'British Council global'

[ British Council global | 2020-05-15 14:46:20 UTC ]

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