Every community in the world has its own problems, no matter when. Whether they are local or national, these problems can affect lives for years, even decades. Therefore, people’s minds revolve around these specific problems.
Whether it is poverty, discrimination, abundance, pessimism or government issues, there have been and there will be hot topics in our lives. Sometimes we are born into them, sometimes they are created during our lifetime.
However, each of these personal, local and community issues has become a part of us and has eventually found a place in our language, in our thoughts and ideas. Consequently, they have also found their way into literature, in one way or another.
Some may think that stereotypes are misleading opinions about people, and this can be wrong on a personal level. However, generalisation gives you the basic idea about things (not necessarily becoming a solid part of their truth, but rather a narrow meaning). And since this can be applied to the perspective, understanding and way of thinking of individuals, it means that it directly affects literature as well. Because literature is a way of reshaping our thinking through the stories we create or tell. It contains elements of your knowledge base, ideas and experiences throughout your life.
That is why we can accept and absorb the classics of literature in our mother tongue rather quickly. Regardless of the degree of similarity, these authors had the same problems at some point in their lives. If you look at the world classics, you will see this too.
Photo by Cedric Letsch on Unsplash
Another reason I talked about stereotypes is also because of the way we define and imagine other people’s minds. If I say something about Russian literature, your brain automatically pictures the background to it; it can be cold, pessimistic and cheerful all at the same time. Something you can internalise to a certain extent, but not completely (unless you have lived and experienced life there).
When we talk about Japan, there is still a gloomy perspective, so you can have a mutual understanding with them. There is also a sense of separation and loneliness experienced by people who live there. Again, you can feel that, but not as much as they can.
“Oliver Twist” and “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens in the 19th century often depict the grim social conditions of Victorian England, addressing issues such as child labour, poverty and social injustice.
Franz Kafka’s works, including “The Metamorphosis” and “The Trial”, are renowned for their exploration of alienation, absurdity and the dehumanising aspects of bureaucracy. They capture the anxieties of early 20th century Europe.
Although this is just a guess on my part, Shakespeare must have written “Hamlet” because of the loss of his only son, Hamnet (the play was written only a few years after his death). The questioning of life and death (to be or not to be) because of his grief for him. After all, he was a father before he was a playwright and poet. Many characters take revenge on each other, but one always changes his mind, even when he has the chance. It’s like Shakespeare debating the value of one’s life; it’s priceless and shouldn’t be taken by others, even if others are willing to do so as a punishment. While life is important, death is a devoted follower of life. The debate about this cycle has always been important, but especially in these hard times of war, despair and disease.
Perhaps personal matters and other problems around him made him write this masterpiece. Could he have written it at all (or as well) if he hadn’t had such painful things in his life? Do we really need a negative outcome in our lives to write something that will have a greater impact on others? This may be a debate for another article.
Wherever and whenever the literary works come from, this has always been the case. That is why we can see the similarities between the plot of a classic novel and our own lives. We can see why they have become classics over time. Above all, the authors were people from everyday society. Because you are part of it too, you can clearly understand the work.
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