Discuss relationship between society and literature.

Discuss relationship between society and literature.

Literature is an expression of society ‘How far is the statements true?’ Illustrate your answer.

Discuss Hegelian Criticism and Taine’s formula of literature.

Discuss Marxian approach in light of relationship between literature and society.

The writer is not only influenced by society he also influences it. Discuss it detail with illustration.

Write a detailed note on the study of works of literature as social documents.

Write a detailed note on the economic bases of literature the social studies of the writer.

In what respect is literature a social institution?

          Literature is a social institution. It uses language as its medium which language itself a social creation. Furthermore literature ‘represents’ life and ‘life’ is a social reality. The natural world and the inner or subjective world of the individuals have also been the objects of literary ‘imitation’. The poet himself is a member of society and has a specific social status. Indeed literature has usually arisen in connection with particular social institution.

The relation between Literature and Society:-

          There are questions about the relations of literature to a given social situation. Attempts one made to describe the influence of society on literature and to judge the position of literature in society. This sociological approach to literature is cultivated by those who have a specific social philosophy. Marxist critics not only study these relations but also have conception of what these relations should be.

          The relation between literature and society is usually discussed as – literature is an expression of society’. But what is means? If it means that literature mirrors the current social situations and depicts some aspects of social reality – it is a false notion. Certainly a writer expresses his experience and total conception of life but it doesn’t mean that he should represent life of a given time fully.

Hegelian Criticism and Taine’s Formula:-

          Hegel and Taine have equated historical or social greatness with artistic greatness. The artist conveys historical and social truth. Works of art may seem better social document to a modern sociologist but for Taine they are unexpressive and unrepresentative. Literature is not s reflection of the social process but the essence and the summary of all history.

Actual Relations:-

          It is necessary to know the actual relation between literature and society. These relations admit classification. First

There are the sociology of the writer and the profession and situations of literature, the whole question of the economic basis of literary productions of literature, the social status of the writer, his social ideology.

Then there is the problem of the social content, its implications and social purpose of the works of the literature.

Lastly, there are problems of the audience and the actual influence of literature.

          Thus there are three divisions of our problem: (1) the sociology of the writer, (2) the content of the works and (3) the influence of literature on society.

Writer – a social Being:-

          Every writer is a member of society. He can be studied as a social being. Trough his biography we can get the information about his social and family background and his economic position. Aristocrats, bourgeois and proletarians have contributed in the in the history of literature. According to Statistic literature in modern Europe largely came from the middle classes, because aristocracy was busy in enjoying while lower classes had a little opportunity for education. This is not true, because the role of the aristocracy in English literature was great. Even in Russia Goncharov and Chekhow were aristocratic in origin Dostoyevsky was a noble man.

          It is east to get such information, but difficult to interpret because social province does not prescribe social ideology. Shelly, Carlyle, and Tolstoy are such examples. Outside of Russia many communists are not proletarian in origin.

          The social origins of a writer play only a minor part in his literary creation. The writers have often put themselves at the service of another class. Most court poetry was written by men born in lower estate. But they adopted ideology and taste of their patrons.

The role of the writer:-

          The general outlines of this history are already clear. In past oral literature, the role of the singer or narrator was dependent on the favour of public, e.g. the bards in ancient Greece, professional Falk-tale tellers in Russia.

          In the middle Ages there was monks in King’s all, at the court or baron’s castle. The writer is either a clerk, or a scholar or he is a singer and entertainer, a minstrel. But even king like James I of Scotland was a poet. Most of the poets were attached to the Patrons. With the Renaissance there arose a group of writers who wandered from country and offered their services to different patrons. In later ages noble or ignoble. Patrons supported authors. The system of aristocratic patronage was however universal. For a time literature was not supported by the reading public. In the 19^th century the great financial rewards came. Byron and Scott created influence upon public. Today we have different magazines and different ranks i.e. students, school boy, old age etc.

          Thus a study of the economic basis of literature and of the social status of the writer is bound up with a study of the audience he addresses and upon which he is dependent financially.

Relation between Author and Public:-

          It is difficult to know the relation between author and public at a time. Because the reading public expands becomes dispersed and heterogeneous. The number of intermediaries between writers and the public increase. We can study the role of such social institutions as the café, the club, the academy, the university etc. We can see the history of reviews and magazines and publishing houses. The critic becomes an important middle- man. The association of literary men themselves many help a would be writers.

          Still the old patterns have no been completely replaced. All modern governments support literature in various degrees; but their patronage means control and supervision. In Russia Totalitarian state suppressed many writers. Thus patronage may have positive and negative role also. The graph of book’s success, survival, the author’s fame and reputation is mainly a social phenomenon. Some times fame is measured by the actual influence of a writer on the other writers. His genius may change the literary tradition.

Stratification:-

          The stratification of every society is reflected in the stratification its stratification of its taste. The norms of the upper classes usually descend to the lower. Sometimes this movement is reversed. For example interest in folklore and primitive art. Social stratification influences taste e.g. differences of age and sex, of specific groups and associations. Fashion is also an important phenomenon in modern literature, because in a fluid society the norms change quickly.

          The modern writer’s isolation from the society requires sociological study. The doctrine of ‘art for art’s sake’ develops when artists feel a contradiction between their aims and the aims of the society.

¬     The writer Influences of the society:-

          The writer is not only influenced of society, he also influences it. Art not only reproduces life, but also shapes it. People model their lives upon the patterns of fictional heroes and heroines. They have made love, committed crimes and suicide according to the book, e.g. Goethe’s “sorrow of Werther” or Duma’s “Musketeers”. But this is not perfectly true. Did Addison’s satire on manner of the 18^th century people change them? The literature can influence the society but at some extent. The young are directly influenced by their reading than the old.

Literature as Social Document:-

          We can study works of literature as social document. We assume it as a picture of reality. Some of social picture can be get from literature. This is one of the earliest uses of literature. Literature was primarily a treasury of consumes and customs, a source book for the history of civilization. As for modern readers, they get impressions of for the history of civilization. As for modern readers, they get impressions of foreign writers like Sinclair Lewis, Galsworthy, Balzan and Turgenev.

          When used as a social document, literature can give outlines of history. For example Chaucer and Langland preserve the views of 14^th century society. Shakespeare and Ben Johnson tell us something about the Elizabethan Middle class. Addison, Smollette, fielding depict the new middle class of the 18^th century. There are so many such examples. In literature live and marriage, business and profession, decline of clergyman etc are drawn into the world of each writer’s own.

          But such studies seem of little value. People take it for granted that literature is simply a mirror of life, a reproduction, and thus a social document. Such studies make sense only if we know the artistic method of the novelist studied. It is necessary to know that is it realistic, satiric, caricature, to romantic idealization. Students of social attitude and aspiration can use literary materials if they now how to interpret it properly.

Literature Occurs only in a Social Context:-

          Literature occurs in a social context, as part of a culture. According to Taine ‘literature is a social product and the poet is influenced by his race, milieu and moments.’ The social situation brings out certain aesthetic value but not the values themselves.

          The problem of ‘literature and society can be put in different terms those of symbolic or meaningful relation the relations of consistency, harmony, coherence, structural identity. The degree of such relations of integration varies from society to society.

          There is a great literature which has little or no social relevance. Social literature is only one kind of literature and is not central in the theory of literature. Literature is primarily an ‘imitation’ of life as it is and of social life in particular. But literature is no substitute for sociology or politics. It has its own justification and aim.