Student Question
Does literature not only reflect but also shape socio-political and economic relations?
Quick answer:
Literature both reflects and shapes socio-political and economic relations. It arises from its context, as seen in works like Salman Rushdie's "Midnight's Children," which mirrors and explores post-independence India. Literature can incite change, as demonstrated by authors in the Middle East who challenge the status quo. The impact of literature is also explained through semiotic theory, where words (signifiers) influence perceptions (signs), although interpretations can vary based on context and preexisting biases.
Public responses to literary works have very often resulted in widespread sociopolitical and economic shifts. Recent examples include books written in Middle Eastern countries, where authors are very often persecuted for their beliefs and therefore struggle to change the status quo through their authorship. However, beyond specific examples, the semiotic theory as posited by Ferdinand de Saussere necessitates that a relationship exists between words spoken and real-world phenomena, otherwise known as "signs and "signifiers." For example, if an author were to state, "Apples are bad," the reader may then be influenced to avoid apples as a result of the relationship between the "signifier" that "signifies" a specific idea that is comprehensible to the reader ("sign"). This dyadic mode of thought is the basis of structuralism.
In postmodern theory, the relationship between literature and the "real world" is a little more complex. For the postmodernist, a "signifier" can actually be completely...
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arbitrary and therefore subject to a variety of different interpretations. For example, if an apple-loving postmodernist were confronted with the sentence "Apples are bad," then this individual would not be as likely to accept the sentence at face value due to his/her preexisting cognitive bias. Furthermore, this sentence would be irrelevant were it posited to a postmodernist who had never even heard of an apple, therefore signifying the relative and highly specific relationship between reader and text. So clearly, literature does have an effect on the reader due to the comprehensible nature of "signs" and "signifiers," but the degree to which readers are affected by these semiotics depends entirely on context.
Do you agree that literature reflects and shapes socio-political and economic relations?
There will be a great deal of discussion and debate on this particular question. I do think that literature does reflect contingency of context because it arises from these contexts. It reflects them because it is a part of them. For example, Salman Rushdie's "Midnight's Children" reflects the socio- economic and political relationships in the new India of the time period following Independence. The work reflects this because it is a part of it. At the same time, literature can help to shape these relationships because it is such an authentic expression of it. Rushdie's work helped to explore the complexity of the relationships in modern India that we now take for granted.