The importance of literary texts in other fields

Rafael Vitor Urbano

According to a research made by Commercial Association of Rio de Janeiro, 70% of
Brazilians did not read at least one book in 2014. This kind of information might make us to
believe in a decadence of the relevance of literature, however it is not true. Literary texts have
many functions. Besides being a symbol of culture, they also reflect men and women of their
times, which allows us to make a deeper analysis of certain human questions. This social
characteristic of literature makes it able to be studied by other areas besides its own. When it
is necessary to look into the human mind and behavior, canonical poems, short stories, novels
and other genres are immensely important to other courses, such as medicine, history,
philosophy, psychology, arts and so on. Because of that, literature must be recognized by other
academic fields as an effective vehicle of information and teaching, in order to improve the
understanding of humanity.
In medicine field, literature is helpful when the subject is relations between humans.
For instance, texts about illness can teach a medicine student how it is the life of a sick person.
Literary texts about medicine might provide understanding of physician's role, and also helps
them to recognize the relevance of their work for their patients. Literature ethics also helps
physicians to comprehend some points about how to treat a patient. An example of this is Mark
Twain's short story Was it Heaven? Or Hell? (1902), which puts the act of lying to protect an
infirm person as the ethical and religious discussion. Another example is Machado de Assis'
short story The nurse (1896), wherewith students learn about respect and professionalism
during work. Literature is also used in another field of human health: psychology.
Literature is also very important to psychology, because it can illustrate and exemplify
particularities of human psyche. Sigmund Freud, a great reader, was aware of that. Literary
texts were so important to Freud that led him to found a whole new psychological field:
psychoanalysis. Based on classic texts and contemporary authors of his time, Freud did a study
of human mind and created several theories. One of them is Oedipus Complex, inspired by
classical author Sophocles' Oedipus the King. Years later, Carl Gustav Jung proposed the
Electra Complex, also based on a Sophocles' text, Electra. Both complexes use Greek stories
about men and women to explain a child's pathological desire to have sexual relation with the
parent of opposite sex. Students with aspiration to psychoanalysis career might be interested in

reading and studying literature as well, because they are extremely connected. Classical texts
are also helpful to historical approaches.
To Historicism, Literature has a huge importance, because through the social contexts
with which a story was written, we can learn about a particular time. It means that a contextual
exploration in a text might help a historian to understand time, social costumes, and historical
facts. Many works are pictures of societies. For instance, the Victorian Age (1837 1901) is
well documented in Robert Louis Stevenson's work, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
This book illustrated the peace, prosperity and happiness of that time. Another great example
of historical context in literature is George Orwell's Animal Farm, an allegorical and fantastic
story based on the events at Russia during and after the Russian Revolution of 1917. These are
just a few of many books in which history is used. One might study them to understand history
and also to compare the characteristics of those societies to ours. In philosophy history, for
instance, one might see the contribution that both did to each other.
Philosophy has a historical relation with literature, and the last helps students to
understand many of philosophical questions. As the poet and philosopher Samuel Coleridge
said "No man was ever yet a great poet, without at the same time being a profound philosopher",
many author deals with philosophical questions in their works. Ulysses, a book by James Joyce,
is considered to have philosophical content include, principally because of its stream of
consciousness. William Shakespeare's most famous phrase, "to be or not to be", is an example
of that as well. "What is art" is another issue that touches both literature and philosophy,
because there is no agreement on the definition of the word art, such as the problematic
definition of life, death and emotion. Literature is also an expression of art and it acts in concert
with the other forms.
All forms of art are related, so literature has a great, mutual, and unquestionable
influence on them. One of the variety of definitions of art is communication between the artist
and the audience. The same artist may use several forms to communicate, and literature can be
among them. Many writers were also painters, as William Blake with his stunning paintings;
or photographers, as Lewis Carrol. Also an artist can find in the writing form a way to explain,
discuss, and think about the theme of his/her creation. In addition, literature has a direct relation
with music, because a song writer is a poet as well. Also, some musicians set poems to songs,
as Robin, a sublime music album by an Israeli singer, Efrat Ben Zur, based on Emily Dickens
poems. Pictures and drawings that illustrate stories and movies adapted from books, such as
Harry Potter, exemplify the relevance of literature to visual arts. Inspiration is also a link

between literary texts and other arts. For example, a book can inspire a song, a picture or even
a statue. In this case, it creates material to comparative literature.
Despite of what many people think about the relevance of literature, it has shown
through the centuries that it is a fundamental instrument of human knowledge. Medicine,
history, philosophy, psychology, and arts are just a few of the umpteen academic areas where
literature has a significant role. The decreasing of number of books read might be a problem of
how people nowadays see literature, ignoring or missing the huge value of it. Because of those,
literature must be encouraged and stimulated in students' lives.

References:

BANKS, Joanne Trautmann et al. "Literature and Medicine: Contributions to Clinical

Practice", 1995. Annals of International Medicine. Web. 05 November 2015.
http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=708572

KIRK, Ashley. "The Importance of Historicism and Context in Literature". 2012..

Ashely kirk's website. Web. 05 November 2015.
http://www.ashley-kirk.com/2012/11/the-importance-of-historicism-and.html

MICHAUD, Stphane. "Literature and psychoanalysis". University of Sobornne

Nouvelle, France. Web. 05 November 2015.
http://www.eolss.net/Sample-Chapters/C04/E6-87-03-04.pdf

PERRY, Robert Barton. "Poetry and philosophy". The Philosofical Review, 1902.
Web. 05 November 2015.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2177022?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

SURBER, Katie. "Connecting literature to other art forms (transcript)". Study.com.

Web. 05 November 2015.
http://study.com/academy/lesson/connecting-literature-to-other-art-forms.html

TELES, Llia. "70% dos brasileiros no leram em 2014, diz pesquisa da FecomercioRJ". Jornal da Globo, 2015. Web. 12 November 2015.
http://g1.globo.com/jornal-da-globo/noticia/2015/04/70-dos-brasileiros-nao-leramem-2014-diz-pesquisa-da-fecomercio-rj.html