WL Must WL books come from cultures other than our own?

[Globe]

For the WL1 paper, when comparing two works, do the two works have to be from different world areas than your own? For instance- I live in the United States. Can I use Steinbeck's Grapes of wrath? It's listed on IB's "world literature list" so I should be able to use it yes? I want to compare womens roles in society between Grapes of Wrath and A Doll's House.

[mathlete94]

I think you have to use the books you read in class. Your teacher should have assigned you a couple of books to read and you should have discussed in in class to help you grasp the fundamental ideas in each novel.

For my WL1, I was only allowed to use The Metamorphosis, The Stranger, and Siddhartha because we only read those in class.

[Summer Glau]

The books you use for your World Lit should be books you've studied in class. Did you study those books in class? You should have a choice of 3-4 books that you can use for your World Lit.

[Globe]

Yes, we did read grapes of wrath in class. My problem is that my teacher doesn't really know how to teach IB english and isn't helping us with the guidelines. All the books we read are on IB's world lit list. We've covered Grapes of Wrath, Frederick Douglass, A Doll's House, Raisin in the Sun, Kitchen, A Thousand Cranes, and Exiles at home.

my question is simply if I can use a book from my own culture and compare it to a different culture, ie Steinbeck vs. Henrik Ibsen. I know IB is all 'oh we want you to become culturally aware' so I don't know if both the works compared have to be from a different culture than mine or not. And the only ones that are from a different culture are A doll's house, Kitchen, A thousand cranes, and exiles at home, and the last three are all depressing and about suicide-not something I want to analyze.

[Summer Glau]

If you've read the books and you want your world lit topic to have a focus on the different cultures of each book, then that's fine. They don't have to be from a 'different culture' than yours. Sometimes it's difficult to define what culture really is or what is and what is not part of your culture anyways

[Globe]

Oh god no don't mention anything correlated to TOK

Okay that's good! I really don't want to have to write about Kitchen or a thousand cranes, those novels were horrible!

[JustAnotherAsian]

its really wierd. IB says its allowed as long as it comes from a different place but from the same culture, but they never specific what place means... So I would best avoid comparing these two books, because you will get 0s on some criteria if the books are not approved.

[dessskris]

no I think the world lit texts are not defined as world lit texts in terms of "culture". it's more of the country, if I'm not mistaken. like I am from Indonesia so I cannot use works that are written by Indonesian authors and published in Indonesia.

you should really ask your teacher which texts you can use.. they chose the texts from different "Parts" of the syllabus. there are 4 parts. texts for World Literature are taken from part 1. from the other parts, there may be some texts that originated in other countries but maybe you won't be allowed to use these texts as they are not from part 1. be careful. don't risk yourself of re-writing your WL assignment just because of choosing the wrong texts.

[Globe]

Ugh, my teacher isn't even qualified to teach IB English :/ she's a history teacher.

If that's the case, then IB is rather misguided with their ideas.

I could use lord of the flies just because it was written in europe when it symbolizes our culture and yet I can't use Raisin in the Sun which portrays the culture of a different race some 2 thousand miles away and 60 years ago just because it's written in my country. Thankfully I'm dropping IB!

[Proletariat]

There is no way you could use Steinbeck. He is an American author, you are an American student, and your book is originally written in English and is about the Great Depression in America. It is not a World Literature piece.

Every single book that qualifies in World Literature has to have been originally written in a language other than English (or whatever A1 language class a certain student is taking.) As far as I know, that's what distinguishes whether a work is World Lit or not. You can't compare Steinbeck with Ibsen. You would have to compare Ibsen with another author who wrote in a language other than English. Then you have to pick a third work for your other World Lit paper.

[daxx]

I may be mistaken but I believe to be WL the requirement is that it was originally written in a language other than the language A1 course you are taking.

[Globe]

Wow my teacher said I could use a nonWL book as long as I juxtapose it with a WL book. Wrote 500 words, now i realize I can't do this. **** my ignorant teacher

Edited May 28, 2011 by Globe

[Chris Kuno]

I thought a WL novel was a novel that was specifically written in a language that was not your original A1 and then translated into the A1. For example, I am in English HL and we were told that the works we studied were considered WL because they were written originally in Spanish, French etc and translated by the author, or by a 3rd party. That is what we were told classified WL, not the culture of origin but the language.

[Globe]

Which is weird, considering that New Zealand speaks English as well as the United States, and many other countries, and yet they are completely different areas of the world. IB