❓A Question For Literature Enthusiasts: The meaning of a literary work is deeply influenced by the cultural context in which it was created. A literary work is often the product of its time and place. If we are unfamiliar with that context, can we truly grasp the full significance of the text? And if we can not, why read it?
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I'm going to try to answer your question as an reader and amateur writer.
As a reader, I became fond of reading in my adolescence, in high school when I was assigned as homework in literature classes to read and analyze the novel "Piedra de mar" by Francisco Massiani, a youth novel that narrates in the voice of its main protagonist Corcho, the adventures and misadventures of him and his group of friends in their first years at the university, the story is set in the 70s in the city of Caracas and the city as such is a fundamental part of the narration being in fact another protagonist of the story because throughout the entire novel several common and important places in the city are mentioned and referenced where the characters of the novel live their lives, squares, neighborhoods, urbanizations, the Central University of Venezuela, boulevards, various names of streets and avenues.
When I read "Piedra de mar" for the first time I was 12 years old and I didn't know the city of Caracas at that time, I only knew that it was the capital of my country Venezuela and a few other things about it, but I still really enjoyed reading it. I fell in love with the novel and have reread it dozens of times, but several years later when I graduated from high school I went to study at the university in Caracas, I live in the province when I returned home at the end of the first semester at end of year vacation, I remember that the first thing I did that night was take the novel and reread it once again, it was not the first time I had reread it as I already mentioned but that rereading was undoubtedly special, more edifying and as a reader I enjoyed it a lot But, since this time I did know the city, I had visited the Central University, I walked along the same boulevards, I drink a coffee in the same coffeshops as Corcho the protagonist of the novel and his friends lived their adventures, that undoubtedly added a plus that made that re-reading a delight.
In conclusion, I believe that although any novel or story that we read based on a specific context, time, geographic, and even cultural, a novel set in the city of New York in 1920 is not the same as one in which its events occur in this century, which we do not know will always be worth reading, I have traveled and visited countries and cities in current and remote times thanks to the pages of a novel that transport me to those places and that connection sitting in my room. If we only read about what we knew and the context in which we live, we would read very little.
I don't consider myself a writer, not even an amateur, I started about 3 years ago writing short and self-contained stories, almost all of them, 400 to 500 words, currently I venture to tell a little more complex and longer stories, without losing the blog format, writing them in chapters of 1000 to 1500 words, and some of those stories extend for more than 15 chapters. I write a little of everything: fantasy, scary stories, vampires, police, detectives, but since I am not a writer capable of inventing characters, jobs, locations and a new connection for each new story, I created a crutch to support my stories, I created Chaotic City, a fictional city where a large part of my stories take place and where many of my characters cross paths, visiting some common places in the city. Chaotic City, in turn, is just a version of the city of Caracas in which I only lived. For 1 year 30 years ago, Chaotic City and Caracas share some common places, names of squares, and places that some of my readers who know the city of Caracas will be able to easily identify but those who don't can find it in one of my stories about a detective who, to solve a case, visits the same neighborhood where a witch or a serial killer who star in other of my stories lives.
As a writer I came to the same conclusion that I have as a reader, yes, the reader's knowledge of the context, time and location of a story is important for their enjoyment, but it is not the only thing that reading offers, as readers we must adventure and always We can do a little more, for example I remember when I started reading George RR Martin's saga "A Song of Ice and Fire", after I finished reading the first novel from the second, I read the following ones with a map of the west. on my computer screen to know for sure where the characters were located, it was no longer enough for me to just read that Jon Snow was on the wall and Sansa trapped in King's Landing, I had to see the map to locate them geographically. I remember that when I reread "Game of Thrones" with the map of Westeros it was much more fun than the first time.
Thank you very much for the question, it was fun respond and remember the first novel I read. Sorry for the translation, use google translator.
It's fascinating how reading a story can deepen your understanding of its context, and as you learn more about the context, your appreciation of the story grows. This creates a positive cycle that enhances both enjoyment and the overall experience. Thank you so much for sharing your story!
From my humble point of view, I think it is a half-truth, the result of more than 40 years of reading books.
I do not deny that the context in time makes it more difficult to describe a literary work. For example, when Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote The Brothers Karamazov, it would have been quite simple to set the scene. Or when Victor Hugo wrote Les Misérables or Notre Dame de Paris, a little further back in time.
However, there are true masterpieces of literature that present, to put it in a modern term, a certain "dystopian" relationship with reality.
George Orwell wrote 1984, for example, half a century earlier and no one can deny the scope of the work. Of course, a good dose of fantasy is necessary. Not to mention Jules Verne with his 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (in his time, people sailed by sail). Or Richard Matheson's novels, many of which were adapted to film.
On the other hand, I have read almost all the works of Christian Jacq, the famous French Egyptologist, and they are so well set that the story of Ramses would seem to be contemporary. If it were not for the fact that he lived 5,000 years before Christ. And I will not stop to mention the countless works dedicated to the Templars.
To conclude: I believe that to write a literary work deeply influenced by the contemporary cultural context in which it was created, less fantasy and study is needed than for the cases cited above. But everything is debatable.
Nice initiative, greetings.
You raise an interesting point about how fantasy and imagination can allow certain works to transcend their historical context, making them feel timeless and relevant across different eras. These works often explore universal themes and human experiences that resonate across cultures and time periods.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts!