Content uploaded by Sibaprasad Dutta
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Sibaprasad Dutta on Jan 02, 2016
Content may be subject to copyright.
S.P.Dutta, M.A.(English), ACIB (London)
395 Ramakrishna Palli (Mission Palli), Sonarpur,
Kolkata 700 150 :: TEL : 033-6513-7520
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Literature and Society
Literature is an art like painting, music, image-making and clay-modelling, and like all these, it is
mimesis, as Aristotle says. Mimesis is a Greek word, which means in English ‘imitation.’
Naturally a question arises: What does art imitate? The commonest answer is that art imitates life.
There is no doubt that art imitates life, but if that be the whole business of art, why would people
be attracted to a work of art while life itself stands before them? Why would a young man feel
attracted to the picture of a woman, say , to that of Monalisa when there are a lot of beautiful and
young girls in his sight? Moreover, Pythagoras said that life itself is an imitation of an
incomprehensible ideal, which is the ultimate Reality, and in that respect art is twice removed
from reality. Hence, a school of philosophers hated any work of art as it is far from truth. They
however forget the fact that there is, in human mind, an aesthetic sense, and that is why while an
artist seeks to produce works of art, the connoisseurs rush to enjoy them. Art is an imitation of
life no doubt, but it is not a photocopy. Again, if art be a photocopy, what about the existence of
music and other crafts and also of literature? The actual position is that art imitates life which
imitates an ideal, but in any artistic creation there is + - something which is there not in reality. It
is because of this modification of life in art, that art becomes interesting, and art is called a
creative work. Artist is a maker and he is a maker in the sense that he creates an object of art from
a particular standpoint, that he focuses on a particular facade of life and that he adds something
while subtracting something. That is why art is an act of creation, and is distinguished from bare
reality. Thus when Aristotle speaks of mimesis, he means artistic re-creation of life from the
aesthetic point of view. Literature being a form of art is also a creative activity and while it
speaks of human emotions and human life, it adds a dimension to what is visible and palpable .
That is why literature has gained importance in human life, an importance that is equalled by no
other form of art.
George Borrow in his book, Lavengo, says: “A losing trade, I assure you, Sir: literature is a
drug.” In this statement, George Borrow means to point out the popular love of literature that is
equal to addiction. Paul Bourget in his work Physilogie de l’Amour Moderne ( 1890) very
splendidly points out the characteristics of literature: “Ideas are to literature what light is to
painting.” Ezra Pound defines literature in this way : “ Great literature is simply language charged
with meaning to the utmost possible degree.” Cyril Connolly in his Enemies of Promise (1938)
gives his assessment of literature : “ Literature is art of writing something that will be read twice;
journalism what will be read once.” Connolly’s opinion points out the distinctiveness of
literature in that it is an artistic creation which journalism is not. Salmon Rushdie in his lecture
“Is Nothing Sacred” discovers an aspect of literature. “Literature”, he says, “ is the place in any
society where, within the secrecy of our own heads, we can hear voices talking about everything
in every possible.”
Literature is the art which has different forms – poetry, drama, novel, essay, short-story. Poetry
has certain sub-classes – narrative, descriptive and reflective. The narrative poems, usually long
and dealing with heroic events or cosmic theme, are called epics or heroic poems. Longer
narrative poems not dealing with such themes are also there , for example, Pope’s The Rape of
the Lock, and Drydens’ Mac Flecknoe.The epics , the long narrative poems dealing with heroic
2
exploits or with a cosmic theme are called epics. The world literature has some famous epics like
Homer’s The Illiad, The odyssey, Virgil’s The Aenid, Milton’s Paradise Lost, Valmiki’s The
Ramayana and Vyasdeva’s The Mahabharata. They are classics, and their appeal has remained
great through the centuries. Among poetry, we have lyrics, odes, sonnets, and long poems. Lyrics
are short compositions that express the poet’s deeply-felt thoughts and emotions and feelings.
The sonnet is a form of lyric restricted to fourteen lines, but because of the restrictions, a sonnet
cannot be as effusive as a short lyric. Long poems like Wordsworths’ Tintern Abbey and
Immortality Ode are also specimens of long poems that can express poet’s emotions. Drama is a
performing art that is produced on the stage in a theatre. English drama owes its origin in the
medieval Mystery, Miracle and Morality plays. Generally a drama is divided into five Acts, but
there are good plays with three Acts and even of One Act. Synge’s Riders to the Sea is a great
specimen of one-act plays.The greatest dramas are indeed those of Shakespeare, although there
are quite a number of good plays written by smaller figures. Novel is a long story dealing with
human problems, although novels of fantasy are not rare. The personal essays, like those of
Charles Lamb, are lyrics in prose and they entertain the readers as much as other forms of
literatures do. A short story as the name suggests is a composition spanning over few hundred or
a few thousand lines. While speaking of literature, we must remember that except the tales of
fantasy, every art form deals with man and his place in the society, his hopes and aspirations, joys
and sorrows, failures and frustrations. That is why literature is the most popular form for art and
the next to it is music.
Whether or not literature is a form of art that conforms to Aristotle’s definition of as mimesis, it
remains an indisputable fact that it is a product of man, man living in a society. Literature like all
other forms of art is a social product, and literature came into existence as human society
consolidated and moved towards civilisation. Even in Anglo-Saxon period when the human
settlement was not far advanced and civilisation remained far behind in England, there was good
literature,although Europe had already made good progress on that count. The literature has
always been made an instrument to further a cause, let their entertainment value. The translation
of the Bible in English was an epoch-making event, and so were the chronicles. Already there
was an epic, Beowulf, and the elegies and Christian poems which gave vent to the human
feelings, suggestive of their aesthetic sense. Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales reflects the age,
and this poem was written not only to entertain but also to scan the society. English literature
began to create deeper impact on the society since the Restoration Period beginning in 1660.
Writers like Dryden and Pope introduce satire to correct the society of follies and foibles and the
laxity in manners and morals. The Victorian Age produced two great novelists Charles Dickens
and W.M.Thackeray who in their novels related the goings on in the society. When war broke
out, a class of writers took the time for a chance to display heroism while the opposite camp led
Auden and Owen launched a scathing attack on the war-mongers, depicting in the poems the grim
realities of war. St. John Ervine’s one-act play, Progress, shows how war could be disastrous for
the mankind. The post war situation in England inspired dramas like Look Back in Anger, and
Shaw exploded the myths that ruled the social psyche. Literature often was confronted with the
wrath of public criticism and invited the anger of the government. Thus D.H.Lawrence’s Lady
Chatterley’s Lover was banned on the plea that it was an obscene book as it dealt with sex
openly. There have been turns in the flow of literature with changes occurring in the society, and
as literature is closely linked with the society, social changes also had their impact on the literary
productions.
Literature being a product of social man, literature and society are inseparably connected. While
literature finds its nourishment from the society, the society also draws inspiration and motivation
from literature. The writings Voltaire, Rousseau, Karl Marx, Carlyle, Ruskin and Shaw brought
3
about changes in the society. Rousseau said that man was born free, but he is in his own chains.
Karl Marx gave a call for creating history by bringing about an egalitarian society through
revolution organised by the proletariat. Galsworthy’s Justice points out the hollowness of the
judicial system, and Tolstoy scanned war and peace in his novel War and Peace. Maxim Gorky’s
Mother inspired the working class of Russia. Often literature is the forerunner of social changes
and its impact on society is far greater than that of any other instrument. “Pen is mightier than
sword”, goes the axiom. Schiller said: “ The Only time a human being is free is when he or she
makes a work of art.” Flaubert ‘s comment is sharper: “ The more indignant I make the
bourgeois, the happier I am.” Baudelaire said that ‘one must astonish the bourgeois.’ Charlotte
Bronte in her preface to Jane Eyre says about William Makepeace Thackeray : “I regard him as
the first social regenerator of the day – as the very master of that working corps who would
restore to rectitude (righteousness, decency) the warped (misshapen, distorted) system of things.
We must take seriously into account what Margaret Atwood says: “ Art has its roots in social
realities; when you see an Aztec statue you don’t doubt that it had an essential social function.
People believed in that god and made sacrifices to it. I don’t know why literature should be
different.” We shall conclude by quoting from Pure Pleasure by John Carey : “ It may seem
footling to speculate about the effect of population explosion on reading habits. But it is clear
that, whatever the external disasters, people’s attitudes to privacy and solitude are going to
change – and that, of course, is where books come in. Reading admits you to an inner space
which, though virtually boundless, is inaccessible to the multitudes milling around. This is likely
to make it more precious and sought after as ordinary terrestrial space gets used up.” We cannot
help feeling one with Francis Bacon who in his essay Of Studies says ‘reading maketh a full
man.’ If we want to be full men or good men as Bernard Shaw desired, we must read and read
good literature for ‘some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be
chewed and digested. … Some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not
curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention . Some books may
also be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would be only in the less
important arguments, and the meaner sort of books: else distilled books are, like common
distilled waters, flashy things.”
***********************************************************************************************************
*