Literature : A mirror or chissel

[christianyouth]

This is a question that is important, and I think it's implications are important. Is Literature a reflection of the popular culture or does it shape the popular culture?

Example, modernist literature. T.S. Eliot was one of the first modernist writers. In his writing, and in most modernist writing, certain themes emerge. One is pessimism. Was Eliot communicating the cultural atmosphere or was did he determine the cultural atmosphere?

Does this same principle apply to movies? Did American Pie shape the minds of the youth or did it reflect the minds of the youth?

 

[a mere housewife]

Llit functioning as a mirror can also function as a chisel if it shows us our deficiencies so that we can better fix them. And lit as a chisel is worthless if we can't see ourselves well enough to fix us. I'm not sure mere representation is even possible, as to shape something without any reference to the shape its already in is impossible.

I think a writer will have many motives, and which one is dominant depends on the writer. Orwell writes about having an urge to write similar to a baby's urge to cry -- just for attention. He said he didn't know what his main motivation in writing was, but he knew what it should be: it was more what you've listed as a chisel.

 

[weinhold]

This is a question that is important, and I think it's implications are important. Is Literature a reflection of the popular culture or does it shape the popular culture?

Example, modernist literature. T.S. Eliot was one of the first modernist writers. In his writing, and in most modernist writing, certain themes emerge. One is pessimism. Was Eliot communicating the cultural atmosphere or was did he determine the cultural atmosphere?

Does this same principle apply to movies? Did American Pie shape the minds of the youth or did it reflect the minds of the youth?

Both.