Why Literature?

        Literature could not exist without language, and the skill to be able to use a language as it is used in literature, depends on a very basic psychological fact. Humans use language to convey messages and to communicate both orally and through writing. However the most important property of language is that it is needed for humans to think and use their intelligence. Even in the mind, every human must think in some form of language. This is why well written literature is as powerful, because it enters exactly this psychological balance and sparks the imagination and the understanding of whatever the message may be.

        Psychologists at the Stanford University have found out that one of the best ways to keep an aging brain sharp is to read powerful literature. The reason for this is that complex literature activates a very wide range of areas in the brain and stimulating them to form a denser synaptic network which then keeps the body functioning better. The coloured areas in the diagram show the activity of the brain of an individual reading “King Lear” from William Shakespeare. Sir Francis Bacon once said that: "The poets did well to conjoin writing and medicine, because the office of medicine is but to tune the curious harp of man's body."

        Many authors say that even when writing a book, story, poem or something else, they can live inside the text and it all becomes alive. Many readers also often claim that their others senses like smell and touch become active while they read their favourite book. Even the sense of vision becomes detached from the eyes if the story can really draw in the reader. Even though the eyes are merely scanning pages of black and white print, the vision switches to the imagination and the reader feels even more enveloped by the story. Many people who are in pain and start to read powerful literature forget their suffering.

        The incredible force with which literature can impact whole societies and communities as well as simply individuals has always been known and used as a tool. Edward Bulwer-Lytton writes in his play Relichieu that “the pen is mightier than the sword.” Elements of this quote can be found in the bible and even the works of ancient Greek philosophers. So literature can prove a powerful tool to those who master it, no matter whether it is written as fiction or nonfiction. It has been and always will be the most powerful tool the human race ever mastered.