Effect of literature on society - Effect of society on literature. Which is stronger?

[YALASH]

Peace be on you. Effect of literature on society OR Effect of society on literature. Which is stronger? Are both equally strong?

[PeterL]

It is my opinion that literature in general has very little effect on society; although there are some examples of literature that has had effect on society. Literature is a reflection of society, so society has huge effects on literature. On the other hand, since literature is born from society, it might be that in those cases where it may appear that literature has had an effect on society it might actually be that society had an effect on itself that was simply reflected in the literature.

Consider The Communist Manifesto: did it nurture the revolutions of 1848, or did it simply reflect what the revolutionists were doing?

[jayat]

Read The decay of lying by Oscar Wilde. In a moment of the dialogue between Vivian and Cyril, the former says "it's no less true than life imitates arts more than the other way round". sorry, I'm translating and paraphrasing it. Read it when you can. Great analysis.

[Desolation]

As much as I love literature, it would be very difficult to argue that literature has had a larger impact on society than the other way around. Don't get me wrong, literature can and does affect society, but it's a part of a series of raindrops that go to make a wave; very rarely the wave itself.

[PeterL]

The comment that 'life imitates art' is a popular fallacy. It is just an amusing and ironic fast comeback; something to say when there is a strange coincidence.

[MorpheusSandman]

No doubt that society affects (really effects) literature more than the other way around. Society existed first, and literature came about in part to reflect that society.

[osho]

Society has great effects on literature, philosophy, or on any genres of art. Literature is born of social beliefs, thoughts, ideologies, and society is a great river and literature is a rivulet, a tributary and literature gets lots of materials, resources from society. With that said, society improves at times through its greatest minds and of course Gorky, Tolstoy, Dickens and then like had great impacts on their societies. Ayn Rand had some impact on American society and,thought and even on American politics. It is hard to pinpoint but it is society at large that gives birth to literature, art and music. For example, Communist societies were somewhat repressive and for instance Russia did not give great writers like Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Chekhov during the communistic regime. Shakespeare was patronized and getting the patronage of kings and emperors people could do creative persuasions. If writers have to make a living he will be compelled to give up on writing and if he or she is free to work without cares she can do more creative things.
Today we do not have literary giants the way we had in the past like Shakespeare and other great playwrights. Today literature has a commercial role. People do not care about literary standards or qualities and all they care about is commerce. They want to be bestsellers. Like Harry Potter. Who cares whether she was a literary giant or not. But her books earned her lots of fortunes and today she is one of the richest women in the world and she does not care whether critics are warm or cold towards her. She has so many readers and her books earned her both money and popularity and if she failed to get warm appreciations of a few lonesome critics she does not have to worry about it. If she does not reserve space in the narrow world of a few isolated rigid critics she does not care.

Therefore literature that can entertain people in society and if it can influence the way people think, live the book is successful to that extent and if the book is very great and philosophically more appealing and if they are liked by only a few lone some critics the objective of the book is not done.

[YALASH]

Thanks for answers.
1-Society is reflected in literature.
2-People read or watch (TV, internet) it.
3-Then at this stage the literature takes a leading role.
4-Is not it enormous role? which determine the course of nations. Up or down.

[osho]

In fact society and literature behave interactively and society is a combination of people,and both in different environments tend to direct each other. Literature is the mirror of society. In fact it is all about society. One can raise a question as to why there are poems that are written about nature. Nature is a subtle, nuanced form of society. Society is an abstract concept and it is the togetherness of people.

When we read fine minds we tend to follow, for example, Tolstoy's ideas tend to mold our patterns of thinking. Even in an organizational situation the bylaws of it can influence the way we think and act.

[YALASH]

.......Today we do not have literary giants the way we had in the past like Shakespeare and other great playwrights. Today literature has a commercial role. People do not care about literary standards or qualities and all they care about is commerce. They want to be bestsellers. .......


.......... literature can and does affect society, but it's a part of a series of raindrops that go to make a wave; very rarely the wave itself.

Currently, what kind of literature is in use by masses in the world?

[Aylinn]

Obviously, society has a far stronger influence on literature. It is very easy to spot. There are countries where polygamy is allowed, and in those countries polygamy appears in literature. In Europe, where polygamy is illegal, it doesn't appear in literature. It is simply very unlikely that a writer who has been brought up in Europe and has never had a direct contact with polygamous marriages will choose to write about them.

[OrphanPip]

Obviously, society has a far stronger influence on literature. It is very easy to spot. There are countries where polygamy is allowed, and in those countries polygamy appears in literature. In Europe, where polygamy is illegal, it doesn't appear in literature. It is simply very unlikely that a writer who has been brought up in Europe and has never had a direct contact with polygamous marriages will choose to write about them.

Well polygamy appears in the Bible, which is a foundational text of European culture, and polygamy is certainly within the normal frame of reference for Europeans. Certainly you wouldn't see polygamy depicted in most realists novel describing European society, but it probably pops up in European fantasy literature. The degree to which polygamy is allowed doesn't necessarily correspond to the degree which the public and artists are interested in it. After all, Big Love ran for 5 years on HBO, and it was a television show about polygamous Mormon family, despite polygamy being illegal in the USA and frowned upon by the vast majority of Americans (Mormons included).

The question of whether literature effects society is silly, because literature is society, it is one of the means by which humanity builds community. It is akin to asking whether the left hand effects the body.

[Babyguile]

It seems your effects should be affects. I'm paranoid because no-one has pointed that out yet.

Literature can affect society in the sense that a politician may have been inspired by a book they read in their formative years and that politican then went on to become an influential reformer. However, the social change in this instance was caused by policy or political ideology, not the literature itself.

I don't think literature has any direct influence on society on a meaningful scale. The problem is that reading remains a solitary activity, and readers tend to be introverted. This is a problem because, though I believe individuals can be affected by what they read (they may aspire to carry out the beliefs communicated through the actions of a character in a novel, or to further explore subjects explored within novels), if you look at recent history, most social change on a big scale has required movements and groups of people winning influence by attrition. If literature has any direct influence on society at all it usually manifests as crazes or fads that die out in a couple or years; moreover, such literature tends to be really bad because they need to sell to enough people. I'm thinking specificaly of the supposed rise in sales of BDSM praphenalia in the wake of Fifty Shades of Grey, and the shoot in growth of the vampire sub-culture following Twilight and its screen adaptations and spin-offs. Also think about Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code.

I personally adhere to the Victorian idea that art should serve to communicate truths and express things honestly and with moral purpose. Therefore I would like to see people reading more good literature. Popular culture nonsense really grates on me.

[Aylinn]

Well polygamy appears in the Bible, which is a foundational text of European culture, and polygamy is certainly within the normal frame of reference for Europeans.
While the Bible was/is a very important text that influenced European culture, it is not a exactly product of European culture, but of Ancient Near Eastern culture.

I think I didn't make it to clear. My point wasn't that Europeans have no knowledge about polygamous marriages or that writers would absolutely never write about them. Only that they are less likely to do so due to the lack of immediate experience.

[YALASH]

1- It is true that what is happening in countries, nations, areas, houses and streets and minds is mirrored in writings.

2- It is true too:
i-For believers, Revealed Divine Books are divine-literatures which initiate a theology, which in turn starts related new way of life.

ii-For scientists, proved-new-theories are scientific-literature which begin all new era of material advancement.

iii- Written literature in the form of Visuals (electronic media) is forming new era of awareness and consumer-ism too.

iv- Closing free information for citizens is fact. This is absence-of-literature. This lacking, too, enormously affects the people.

v- Checking what people are reading or watching is a fact too, it is clearly due to effective effect of literature.

There maybe more examples like that where literature shows its enormous initial power.

= >> Literature, society and effects have deep connections.

[Tunselous]

many years ago in the tower of tunselous a man named tunselous was born he gave birth to androsss sexual parents then he made his way to rosswell new mexico to see if the ufo was still there and it wasnt at tall tis but a forrest and a spot were a ufo used to be there was no ufo so he traveled upwards to find one but instead found thee icy tower of agnatohniousisoy he wnet on the great ice towar run where he found several dragons but not a single ufo a man of tis a warden eve e preson seed no matter how hard you look the ufos will cloak like ice dragons among there once was a man named turok who find a ufo when looking add that man was me that man was a dino slayer a king of eriched oreo bread if you know what i mean the point of the matter is turok did not kill tunselouses parent for no reason then tunselous said wait turok killed my pairents the warden said yes that is waht he told me on the nyght we had tea on the icy roads of ufo city tunselous said wait theres a hole cit7y of ufos the warden said yes there is tunselous said do you have any left over tea from that night the warden said no tea for thee then cast tunselous out of window tunselous falled for inches into a pool of cat eyed johns fisherer for impaired divers tunselous said wait if i eat theese pills they will surely give me magic powers tunselous ate the pills and they did nothing but give him magic powers he used the magic powers for nothing they were not the ones he were searching many kingdoms ago a man once said with great tun comes great selous and that man was trokie asked tunselous if he wanted a robodog and tunselous said yes many kingdoms later tunselous find the most magic thing that thing was a cat not any cat you see many kingdoms ago cats were magic he would eat the flesh of cats and gain what litle magic was left in them he latter went to calling himself tunsalous then he went back to calling himeself tunselous and on that day he ate many a cat and i mean many not the many you see on tv but the many catwhips you see for sale at sean johns apple sale he has evrey year to get rid of his crapy apple computers many years after sean john would meet on the very spot of the battle feild where they fought and feasted on goatwich anvicos the goatwich waS A POWERFUL king a king of druidness and fareness and evilness and and gun shots in the leg and fair treatment of tunselous and kettlecorn a bag of human limbs and markers and grocers and sexual enounters and farawayland and great houses and ufos tunselous relized that thee king was king of ufos and wnet to asked him for a ufo and he gave him one and tunsalous studyed how it flyed for many kingdoms later he discoverd powerfull magic within the the great temples walls of icelion yes temples and temples and temples temples and temples and temples temples and temples and temples temples and temples and temples temples and temples and temples temples and temples and temples temples and temples and temples temples and temples and temples and small children small children were used for many thing like eating but the story tunselous was not over intell many kingdoms later when a man asked tunselous if he was a puppet tunselous said tunselous snear and left for a day and came back to his homeland of akaria where the hut he was born in was the hut tunselous was born in was a small hut cald tunselous prisom the prisom was a place to eat anything you felt like at anytime you felt like and i mean anytime any time tunselous traveled to double check on the ice roads but they melted in the sun tunselous drunk thee blood they were made of and walked into a stadium and stole mines and huts like the one he was born in like it but not it like the time he went to the carnavile with ser topemhat (ser topemhat:hey tunselous got a nickle for a ride tunselous: no) many times of ages ago tunselous traveled to a hut then left to find gold in a mine that did not exist he knw it did not exist but he wnet anywhy for kingdom is power and power kingdom is the power to control what we belive are granerys the long celebrated granery special was rice and pancake with a glass olive oil only men of magic get milk and grand wizards get tea and some hard boiled plates the plate were not to eatbut to eat off of for many kingdoms and men who day thing of kingdoms would be cast down a sean shower a sean shower was a shower where shawns lived and bathed and ate the flesh of wales and and somtimes a shawn would cum to tunselous house and they would have sex all day day than he relized the shawn name was andross and you know who andross was but they did it anyway back to the main topic a house on top of a hill on top a of a mountain on top of and iceberg on top of a gateway to the best place ever there was only only one way to the best place ever that is if you were tunselous evrey day on that day evryone would eat anything they could eat that is how tunselous day started the day that is evreyday the reason people eat what they want evreyday and not tea or olive oil or milk or rice or pancake or plates or cats or small children in the words tunselous: shal not eat u eat blood of nurses hav the most sex with any cat you see on the street use the most elctro sappers in one go have and eat local small children do it with a orc eat u up eat up so good use magic souse
THAT IS WHY WE SHOULD TALK ABOUT HOW TUNSELOUS GAVE US THE FREEDOM TO EAT WHATEVER WE WANT EVREYDAY FOR AT LEAST 2 HOURS.
if you see any dragon contact tunselous NOW
the details of the next story are witness accounts of what tunselous did to find the lost yew crossbow of agroness
two days ago tunselous was thinking about crossbows when he thought what if there were a crossbow no one could find what if i found it i would be rich and famous so tunselous went on the internet and typed in lost crossbows and he saw a crossbow for sale instead of buying it he tracked down the person who owned it and asked him for it he said no tunselous killed him on the spot and took the crossbow from him and sold it to himself for 800$ but surprise for him he was not rich and famous at least not yet he took the crossbow and kept selling it too himself so he kept making money soon tunselous made 800$ and spent it on a used crossbow this crossbow the crossbow he brought was not any crossbow but the crossbow of agroness he took the crossbow and shot it at a wall a few times then he put it in a box and til this day it is gathering dust.
THAT IS WHY TUNSELOUS IS A MASTER HEADSMEN TO THIS DAY.

[kelby_lake]

Art has had an impact on society when society has been shifting that way anyway- for example the Lady Chatterley Trial- but it does not magic up things out of nowhere.

[islandclimber]

Art has had an impact on society when society has been shifting that way anyway- for example the Lady Chatterley Trial- but it does not magic up things out of nowhere.

Good point. Or the Obscenity trials for works such as Ginsberg's "Howl."