Literature and History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Literature and History - Essay Example ause literature provides the future with specific interpretations of these events, it can be equally argued that history is subordinate to literature. Knowledge of history helps to inform on stories such as â€Å"Amy Foster† by Joseph Conrad. With the knowledge of how colonialism affected other parts of the world during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, this story is more easily understood as a person from a less developed country suddenly finds himself completely out of his context when he is shipwrecked on a foreign shore. This same effect, to different conclusions, is found in Kafka’s story about an ape who becomes human as a means of surviving his new surroundings. However, in their approach, these stories also serve to illustrate relatively universal human themes that remain applicable throughout time. While an understanding of history helps to inform the meaning of the work to a greater degree, this information also serves to help make the work more meaning ful personally to the reader. The nineteenth century began with the Regency period, during which sailors and merchants were beginning to overtake the ruling elite class in terms of economic success. This began to break down the rigid class systems of western society, particularly as these wealthy sailors and merchants began buying up the properties of the wealthy who had squandered all their available funds in trying to maintain the appearance of a properly genteel idle life. This was followed by the Victorian period, which is a period of great contradictions. It is considered to be the age of change and social advances as well as the age of strict social structure and a severe regard for the customs of the past. During this period, the Industrial Revolution came of age, blossomed and brought sweeping change across the country and the world. Life switched from being primarily dictated by the land one owned to a social structure based on commerce and manufacturing in the cities. In this