History and Literature - Essay Example

Q. What is the relationship between history and literature? Is one subordinate to the other? What can we learn, for example, from the stories we read (be specific)? Does knowledge of history make a story more powerful, more "real?" Does history create literature and, in turn, literature creates history? Ans. History of a nation shapes not only its literature, but also designs the cartoons and reality shows that are watched by its nationals. There is a very strong relationship between history and culture.

History sets the pattern upon which literature is constructed by authors. History plays a decisive role in developing a nation’s culture. Literature, in turn, is based upon the culture of a nation. Thus, history affects the literature of a nation through culture. A lot of books have been published on the great battles that have occurred in the world from time to time. Other books that are not directly written on wars reflect the impacts of war on the society in different ways. Owing to the great role of history in shaping a nation’s literature, both are considered subordinates of each other.

History brings facts into literature. In the contemporary age, facts and figures are valued a lot. Facts and figures play a fundamental role in enhancing the value of literature. Literature progresses with research. Research is fundamentally based on the literature review pertaining to the topic of research. Audience looks out for numeric figures that fundamentally come from the history. In the modern age, people are obsessed with the notion of “nothing but facts”. This has created a lot of schism between predictions and forecasts made on the basis of historic data.

Nowadays, predictions are of no scientific value. Researchers are required to extrapolate the past trends to estimate the future. We get to learn a lot about history from the stories we read. For example, in Uncle Tom’s Cabin by (Stowe, 1852), the author has sufficiently explained the worries of slaves and has explained how the tensions flared up the anti-slavery movement. Likewise, knowledge of the history makes a story more powerful and real. Literature has for long, remained the most appropriate source of knowledge about history for the people that have come in later ages.

Quite often, literature, particularly the argumentative papers reflect opinions that tell the underlying factors that made people act in a certain way they did in the history. In this way, literature essentially presents logic for the events that happened in the past. Literature emerges in the quintessential forms that are specifically determined the by the norms of a specific society. Only the extremely innovative writers manage to break free of the traditional forms of literature, yet the new forms require a lot of time to develop fully.

Audience appreciates the literature forms that are associated with a particular period of time. In ancient times, symbols were written over stone walls, that are of huge value today. It is the symbols and text carved in stones that tell us about the culture of ancient Greece and Egypt and many similar civilizations. In the ancient times, those were the prevalent forms of literature until the paper industry flourished and books started to be complied to preserve the literature. Taking this into consideration, it can be safely said that history creates literature and literature preserves the history.

The figure below is an excellent proof for the claim that literature preserves history. “Ancient Egyptian Literature” (Anon., n.d.). References: Anon. (n.d.). Ancient Egyptian Literature. Retrieved from http://www.mysteries-in- stone.co.uk/ancient.htm. Stowe, H. (1852). Uncle Tom's Cabin. Volume 2. Massachusetts: Applewood Books.