LITERATURE AND HISTORY
Literature and history are closely interrelated. In discovering the history of a race, the feelings, aspitations, customs and tradition of a people are sure to be included...and these feelings, aspirations, customs, and tradition that are written is literature. History can also be written and this too, is literature. Events that can be written down are part of true literature. Literature, therefore, is pary of history.
Literature and history, however, also have differences. Literature may be figments of the imagination or events devoid of truth, that have been written down, while history is made up of events that really happened.
Literary compositions that have Influenced the World.
Among them are:
The Bible or the Sacred Writings: This has become the basis of Christianity originating from Palestine and Greece.
Koran: The Muslim Bible originating from Arabia.
The Iliad and the Odyssey: These have been the source of myths and legends of Greece. They were written by Homer.
The Mahab-harata: The longest epic of the world. It contains the history of religion in India.
Canterbury Tales: It depicts the religion and customs of the English in the early days. This originated from England and was written by Chaucer.
Uncle Tom's Cabin: Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe of the US. This depicted the sad fate of slaves; this became the basis of democracy later on.
The Divine Comedy: (by Dante of Italy) This shows the religion and customs of the early Italians.
El Cid Compeador: This shows thw cultural characteristics of the Spaniards and their national history.
The Song of Roland: This include Doce Pares and Roncesvalles of France. It tells about the Golden Age of Christianity in France.
The Book of the Dead: This includes the cult of Orisis and the mythology and theology of Egypt.
The Book of the Days: This was written by Confucius of China. This became the basis of the Christian religion.
*One Thousand and One Nighrs or The Arabian Nights: from Arabia and Persia (Iran). It shows the ways of government, of industries and of the society of the Arabs and Persians.
Researched from: literature and history