Recent efforts to ban books in Utah schools confirm that books still matter deeply. Far from being relics of the past, books continue to serve as a powerful currency of ideas and imagination. While book banning assumes that books influence people directly, the humanities offer a different perspective: Books engage in a dynamic conversation with each other and with readers, fostering knowledge that evolves rather than merely imitates.
With the Paris Olympics now behind us, we look ahead to Salt Lake City’s turn in 2034. From our vantage point at the Obert C. and Grace A. Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah — endowed by the same Utah-based family-owned company that crafted the medals for the 2002 Winter Olympics — we advocate for the global humanities to be celebrated with the same vigor as the Olympics. The Games bring together athletes who push the boundaries of human performance, and the humanities should similarly strive for international excellence, balancing tradition with innovation.
This year, the Tanner Humanities Center is embracing “world literature” as a theme. Amid renewed calls for great books curricula, which tend to focus exclusively on Western civilization, we are diving into debates about global great books. We challenge the notion that any culture is rooted in a singular, uncontaminated tradition. To this end, we are hosting Harvard professor David Damrosch, author of “Around the World in 80 Books,” who argues that texts gain significance as they travel and reach new audiences, becoming part of the evolving canon of world literature. These books, much like athletes in the Olympic Games, compete on a global stage, gaining new meanings and insights through international exposure.
Global texts, whether in their original language or in translation, offer a deeper understanding of distant places while illuminating our own cultures. The category of “world literature” exemplifies the interplay between the local and the global, showing how they enrich one another. Some of the greatest works of world literature are local stories that resonate globally, encouraging readers to rediscover their own communities. Our shared love for our homes might be what connects us most with others worldwide.
Both the Olympics and world literature are stages for excellence. Olympic athletes and great global authors alike hone their skills through intense practice and competition in their home countries, offering us a chance to admire the fruits of their labor. Just as books gain global dimensions through international exposure, local sports do so through the Olympics. Surfing and snowboarding, once local, became Olympic phenomena. French surfers and Jamaican bobsledders, once improbable, now enrich both their sports and their cultures. The greatest works of world literature also teach us surprising possibilities and new perspectives on human experience.
Last century, magical realism exploded out of Latin America to offer the world an essential new form of storytelling. Now people across the globe are reading and writing Wuxia fiction based on traditional Asian culture. Our stories, like our sports, are perfected in exchange.
When we cheer for Olympic athletes, we often support our own national team, but true fans appreciate greatness, no matter its origin. Global competitions push the boundaries of human achievement, training both athletes and spectators to recognize world-class performances. The study of world literature also attunes us to superb achievements from around the globe.
These are not political issues. Yes, the Olympics have always had a political dimension. But counting medals does not cancel the joy of an extraordinary performance on the beam or a gutty win in a marathon. Similarly, great works of world literature bring us together in shared appreciation of excellence even as we recognize what makes us unique. World literature reminds us that our cultures have wide routes as well as deep roots.
At the Tanner Humanities Center, our goal is to connect students with the best traditions of thought from across the world. This connection is far from doctrinal. In our course, “Great Books in the Humanities,” University of Utah students engage with significant texts, connecting them to contemporary global issues. Works like Sophocles’ “Antigone” and Shakespeare’s “Richard III” have been adapted by writers from every corner of the world because they ask universally compelling questions without offering easy answers.
At Utah, “great books” and “Western civilization” are dynamic foundations of inquiry, not static relics. Great works challenge us to rethink our assumptions and to engage with ongoing global histories, making these texts part of an expansive world culture, which belongs to us all.
The humanities are essential to educating global citizens, especially in a place like Utah, with its rich traditions of Olympian worldliness.
(Scott Black) Scott Black is a professor of English and the director of the Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah.
Scott Black is a professor of English and the director of the Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah.
(Robert Carson) Robert Carson is associate director of the Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah.
Robert Carson is associate director of the Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah.
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