Literature : Criticism Of Life 2x3j2d

What is Literature ? “...at base, a criticism of life.” When as early as the 3rd millennium BCE, man learned to put down his thoughts and feelings on pieces of stone or clay somewhere between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Asia Minor and then on scrolls of papyrus in the Nile valley, he began a quest for preserving a criticism of the life that he witnessed around him. It was then on that the monumental striving towards literary achievements began though ascertaining an exact date to it would be nearly impossible. But if the inquisitive mind, for a moment, ponders over the question as to why man recorded the events that he saw occurring around him or the lifestyle that he witnessed around him? He is confounded with the most fundamental question of literature. What is the function of literature at all? Scholars of anthropology believe, that it was man’s desire to down his knowledge into the changed world of the next generation that drove man towards literary achievements. In which case we have to assume that man has throughout been aware and conscious of the process of change and metamorphosis that forms the subject matter of some of the earliest literary achievements of Man both in the Orient as well as in the Occident. The earliest epics, from Homer’s to Ovid’s have been driven by the desire to on the legacy of their times into the future world-embodied in Achilles’ desire for immortal fame in the Iliad. And our earliest heroes from Gilgamesh to Genji have sojourned through Change and Transformation-fundamental processes that have taken place to shape what we are today. But if the real essence of literature is to portray the aspect of “change”, then we must accept that in a wider sense, literature has a greater function and field of service to the world, as well as towards the intellectual inquiry of the inquisitive man. When the eminent British poet Matthew Arnold was confronted with the question as to the purpose of his literary compositions, he answered it in absolute and simplistic saying that all he wanted to do was to present an accurate “criticism of life” through his poetry. He went on to explain that “criticism of life means, noble and profound application of ideas to life.” Here, ‘life’ should be taken as a mere concept and impersonal entity in our understanding of the human world. So, in Arnold’s words, the purpose of literature is to place Man in situations that are alien to his experience and explore how he functions in a crisis that Fate has meted out to him. If the crisis is overwhelming and socially has gone beyond the hero’s control catharsis will bring him to an end, to end the social crisis. If the problem is limited and can be overcome, he will emerge victorious from that shade and reenter the realm of light and joy. This in a way is

the summary of Man’s life;--his helpless birth forces him into the crisis of the world which is the ‘Struggle for Existence’ where his socialization must either save him or bring upon him his inevitable death. This small example of one man’s journey through life may be extended to have an idea of what our ancestors thought necessary for maintaining the society which must teach the new-born child how to fight against the forces of nature and survive in the world. Thus Literature appeared to them as a preservative to conserve the values that are necessary for the proper functioning of society. The earliest examples of world literature include mostly the religious texts from the Vedas to the Book of the Dead (considered to be the oldest) which serve as a living legacy of the prophets who taught men to stand together. In the western world, literature mainly originated in the form of Epic and Drama in Greece. But even in the fifth century BCE, they were not free from their religious roles. Mostly drama was a part of the Festival of Dionysus and later, Dionysus came to symbolize the performing arts. German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche points out that in Greece drama almost inevitably involved a conflict between two camps usually headed by the hero and the villain--the protagonist and the antagonist. These two camps, he says are the yin and yang of any artistic creation--the cadres of Apollo, the timid and Dionysus, the gallant. These two forces of wildness and constraint are also witnessed in human life, what Sigmund Freud calls the conflict of the Id and the Super-Ego. That means the very journey of life as a conflict is inevitably portrayed in the process of artistic creation of every kind. The social value of literature cannot be undermined, which was in the ancient world to hold society together has now translated into criticizing society and thereby providing the anti-thesis to the hegemony that prevalent society tries to implement. Thereby, through this criticism, dialectics progresses and as per the laws of social development, society evolves through time. This function of literature is clearly witnessed in the writings of Gogol, Dostoevsky and Dickens. But this immense potential of literature to stir a revolution and change the social life of man also poses a threat to social stability of no mean proportion. Plato, the Greek philosopher was the earliest man to understand this potential and suggest that literature should be banned in the ideal state because it stirs the soul too much and may destroy the stability of the ideal society. In his “Republic” Socrates, is seen to make a sarcastic comment that all one needs to create a public opinion for or against a government policy is to get is praised or ridiculed in a popular play.

Thus the elevated position that Literature played as a transmitter of knowledge and lifestyle from generation to generation is proof of the importance and effect of it on public life. From a guide to moral values to an evaluator of social customs, literature is present as an omnipotent entity that presents a criticism of life, both public and personal. By criticism here, we mean an evaluation of actions committed by the protagonist in the backdrop of his society and that too, with the surgeon’s precision. Literature when strictly associated with religion acted to accomplish the function of what sociologists call, “goalsetting” and “integration” for at base, religion was Man’s first identity and binder. And through recording of these lifestyles and ways of life, it succeeded in maintaining the other function of society that was “latency”--the ability to on the customs and traditions of the a society into the future world. Thus literature can truly be called a criticism of life. If now, we are to draw upon examples, Dickens’ novels in the English language expose the oppression of the lower-classes by those in power. Oppression that he himself endured in his early years finds place in his writings and it becomes a social satire to a certain sense. Jane Austen writing in a slightly different situation and from a different view-point points out to the paradoxes of the upper-class society. Both these may be taken as examples that criticize the social life of man. On the other hand, if modern literature is considered, T. S. Eliot, in his ‘Waste Land’, on the surface level, depicts the impending doom that he imagines to be hovering over the western society going through the massive changes that he witnessed in his life-time. In “The Rock” his chorus sings “Where is the knowledge we have lost in knowledge . . .” he laments the loss of depth from Human society. Russian novels dating back the fag end of the Romanov Rule, mostly point out to the pitiful situation of the working class and the intellectual class not patronized by the nobility. Examples may be given from Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” the plays by Nikolai Gogol. Tolstoy satirizes Russian nobility much in the same way as Austen. They all criticize “life” in its most diverse manifestations around the world; after all, “society is just a magnificent projection of personal life”--Plato.

--- Sagnik Bhattacharya. Advanced-Subsidiary Level, 2015. Garden High International School.