Cleveland Welcomes the World

International light: Cleveland's welcome center

The government did not shut down and, for a brief moment, we will enjoy a short intermission in the too-often emetic ideological epic of Washington-Columbus politics. The battle will resume soon, and whatever has been ugly and hostile in previous debate is likely to grow even more so, for bigger challenges remain. But now, we may pause and take a breath. Perhaps, we should read a book.

The suggestion is occasioned by the scheduled opening of the new International Welcome Center on Public Square in Cleveland. I’ve been delighted by this development, and the broad coalition supporting it. It has also stimulated pockets of renewed anti-immigrant sentiment. Take this example from the Plain Dealer, found in the comments section at the end of last week’s article about the Welcome Center:  “Why not just target Americans from other cities? All we need is more foreigners on welfare . . .”

I suppose we should have all developed a kind of collective immunity to this kind of toxicity by now, but such beliefs have also led to harassment, violence and toxic policy, so immunity is ill-advised: wariness is probably more appropriate. Hardly anyone reading this will agree with the aforementioned comment. The question is this: how can we, all of us, participate in the welcome?

Read a book. Actually: read many books, then insist your friends and family read them.

This is a serious recommendation. If we are to become a truly inclusive community, we must re-draw the cultural boundaries of the village, and learn to speak, as it were, in tongues: not necessarily linguistically, but in terms of ideas, perspectives, ways of seeing. There are a hundred ways to accomplish that task, and literature might be one of them.

So here is a suggested list. I’ve followed a couple of guidelines and exercised a few cautions. First, there are only a handful of European titles here, in part because most readers are already familiar with the Western canon (even if they haven’t read all of it), and in part because the wave of immigrants America is now experiencing is, by and large, non-European.

Second, this is not intended as another variation of the “See how many of the 100 great books of all time!” invitations we’ve all received on Facebook. In addition to the fact that most of those lists are manifestly Eurocentric, their circulation invites a kind of literary arrogance, as if we could all claim moral superiority based on the number of books from the Western catalog we’ve read. (It should be noted that I haven’t read all of the following. I’ve finished more than a couple, and less than all. That’s a sufficient declaration of achievement.)

And third, the list is incomplete, tenuous, subjective, geographically skewed and imperfectly representative of the range of voices that should be included. Most of the writers are male. There is an Asian tilt, probably a reflection on my own personal tastes. One might argue that the list should include poetry, drama and oral storytelling, which form a more central part of the national literature in some countries than written fiction, which has a Western lineage. All valid criticisms; and I’ll ignore them all, because this is an invitation to expansion: Who would you add? 

All things furious political and democratic will soon resume in DC and Columbus, so you don’t have much time. Contribute your suggestion to the list, then pick one you haven’t read, and start reading. So that Cleveland can say: welcome, all; welcome, world; we’re getting ready, and setting the table for your next arrival.

The complete list of recommended international reading is on page two...