Literature plays a vital role in our history and culture. It has become a part of the human life, which is passed from one generation to the other and defines the history and culture of a country. Literature provides an account of things that happened in the past and people learn from these accounts. Therefore, literature is a unique art that helps us learn about our past and culture. It plays a fundamental role in learning and understanding our history and culture.
Literature helps understand the history of a country and the world. Studying literature and reading literature books is crucial because it helps us understand our history. In the past literature works, we understand about past happenings and everything that happened in the world. According to Pope, we become familiar and knowledgeable with the past history and how the period was different from the current world (2012). Therefore, through literature, we get to know about our history, and to improve it.
Literature helps to build up a country’s culture and identity. Through literature, we can learn about our culture by exploiting it in literary works, and this helps in developing and defining our national identity and personality. It is through literature that we learn about the past and today’s culture of a country (de Zepetnek, 2015). Moreover, literature helps us learn about ideas that permeated a particular culture during a given period. Additionally, it gives a new and modern way of thinking about our culture, and how we can develop it to fit in the contemporary society. When reading different types of literature works, we can dig deep and understand how the modern culture was developed to what it is in the current world (Pawlicka, 2014). There are several lasting books for generations, and we do not have to visit any country to learn about their culture because it is all written in the books. Therefore, literature is paramount in learning about different cultures as well as developing new cultures. Likewise, it plays an incredible role shaping our culture.
In conclusion, literature allows us to understand our history and culture. It is an eye-opening experience to study literature because it helps us learn and develop new ideas about our culture. Considering the importance of literature in history and culture, students can develop interests in their history and different cultures and thus learn about the various cultures in the world. In essence, literature plays a significant role in our history and culture.
References
de Zepetnek, S. T. (2015). Systems Theories and the Study of Literature and Culture. Comparative Literature, 67(1), 1-10.
Pope, R. D. (2012). The Importance of Literary History in a Cultural Context. Hispania, 95(3), 96-97.
Pawlicka, U. (2014). Towards a History of Electronic Literature. CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture, 16(5), 2.
