The word in its broadest sense refers to collected written material on a particular topic. For instance if you wanted to know more about art and its impact on society then you would go to a library and collect all the books related to that topic. All that material on art is referred to as literature. This essay is to discuss the other aspect of the word, literature, the facet that refers to writings through ages by different people and by famous authors and the impact that books have on the world.

Literature perhaps started with man discovering his ability to create. When this happened he realized that he could not only express his emotions in writing but in the process convey messages of import to society carefully hidden in beautiful words. He decided that he could play with words to entertain people who would read them. In the olden days distance was of course a problem and so maintaining a history of world literature was impossible. The flip side is that we have a wide range of literature to read from. People in different parts of the world, using different languages and writing in different periods of time tackled literature differently. This has left us with books and creations that enrich our society, our heritage as a race and us. Even the most voracious reader can never hope to read all the books out there.

Literature is not only a storehouse of creativity. Through its topics of discussion literature is also a take on the history of the world. Dealing as it does with language it is also, a repository of the history of language. Ancient literatures like those of Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Celtic, Saxon, Aryan, Dravidan and the like help us learn how these languages have evolved through time and through the ravages of the different cultures conquering them. Literature has also helped preserve for man the different schools of thought, Sophism to Modernism, the Dead Sea scrolls to Structuralism.

Literature is usually defined as man’s way of communicating with society breaking barriers that usually divide men, those of caste, color, time, gender, status and the like. It is sometimes ‘…a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings’, or a puzzle to be solved by reading using a context of all that went before and all accrued experiences of the reader.

The theory of literature is commonly believed to have started with Aristotle when he propounded how a good work of art should be written. His views on the written word’s structure, its characters, its style all formed the basis of literary theory. Since then many theorists have either in agreeing or refuting or digressing from him given their own theories about literature and its study.

Thus was born various and different literary theories and styles of criticism based on them. These theorists and critics claim to help interpret literary works with different biases. For example, a feminist reading will look for aspects of feminism, a reader based theory says that the book is independent of its author; a Structuralist believes structure is all, a modernist has his own theory! Inspite all, everybody agrees that literature is something that stands the test of time and can entertain, inspire and educate for eternity.

Literature that entertains aims to do so either through humor or pathos. If humorous then it’s called a comedy. The goal of comedy is to make us laugh away our sorrows. Humor is sometimes based on the comedy of manners. It rails at society’s idiosyncrasies. Pathos gives rise to tragedy. Tragedies give us a cathartic feeling so that we go away from a book cleansed of emotions and worries. The humors melancholic, sanguine choleric and phlegmatic are believed to induce the various moods in the readers.

Literature that inspires and educates aims to make society a better place to live in. Aristotle the father of literary theory believed that all good literature should do so, thus probably starting off the eternal dialogue over ‘art for arts sake’ vs. ‘art with a message’. The audience of a good work of literature should feel uplifted in thought after completing the book. All epics in different languages do this. They convey a message to society through their art.

Though literature is all this, the end result of having read a piece of literary work is a sense of fulfillment, satisfaction and achievement. We recognize we are not alone in what we feel and think, for literature is the depiction of universal thoughts. We realize that men and women have the same emotions and react almost similarly cutting through time, space and matter. Literature intrigues our minds with its allusions, similes and metaphors. When we decipher them we partake of the creative process. This gives us a sense of accomplishment.

In rare cases, books have had the power to shake the very foundations of society. They lead to paradigm shift of thought and way of living. They inspire whole nations to rebel and change. This is the power of literature. It shapes, it moulds and in the process entertains.

The object of the essay is to point out the importance of literature to society. All literary work fit the bill. No books are mentioned here for the experience gained by different individuals through different books are all different and enriched by what each one brings and takes off from the piece.

With today’s paeans all being sung at the altar of science many question the time invested in reading and relishing a work of literature. Let these non believers know that science feeds the mind and nothing more. From being just man science makes us tricksters, who make bombs, travel through space, juggle with chemicals, DNA and numbers and of late master of different machines. Placing ourselves in the context of self fulfillment and personal goals the above achievements seem trivial. Food for the heart and other better senses of the human species can be given only by literature and other fine arts. They nourish souls and enrich lives. A society or a people who give up on literature do themselves a terrible harm.

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