The Place of Literature in an Increasingly Virtual World

Abstract

The reading of literature fulfils a vital role in any educated and civilised nation. The book is being transformed, as digitisation becomes an increasing reality, however, literature will continue to retain a key place as a critical social and cultural artefact. Story, in whatever form, will continue to provide experiences of joy, amusement, fear, hope, betrayal, curiosity, love, forgiveness and sadness. Literature can do so much more than simply moving and entertaining us. It can impart knowledge, stimulate the imagination and can teach us about language, our world and our relationship to it. It can help us to relate to and understand one another, and can act both as a mortar to build rich personal and textual histories, and a bridge between our lives and the lives of others. As well, literature can enrich our lives, helping us to encounter ‘other worlds’, languages and experiences that are not within our lived experience. Finally, literature can transform us as language users, learners and people and present us with a different view of the world and our place in it. But as digitisation and new forms of communication change, will how we read and how we access and share books with one another also change? Finally, how might we sustain libraries and other spaces that readers frequent as ‘real’ communities where lovers of books dwell?