Leader writer: Yumnam Vedajit
Various films are based on literary works and comic books. In the film, Spider Man II, Peter Parker gets into a conversation with the characters of Otto and his wife Rosie. Otto says that T.S. Eliot is more complicated than advanced science. What comes to mind from that one line brings into limelight the contributions made by science and literature in the world, their value and the perceptions associated to them. Hazards resulting from the misuse of scientific discoveries and inventions will not be touched on here for science has unquestionably made tremendous contributions towards the welfare of mankind that there are various forms of transportation, television, computers, internet etc. Lie detector test is seen on TV. Scientists continue to discover and invent various ways to make life comfortable. But what about literature? Literature here refers to works of the creative imagination such as works of poetry, drama, fiction and so on and it portrays mysteries of mind, nature, new worlds of experience etc that it enables us to cultivate imagination, ideas of the literary heritage, cultural and human values and so on. Literary study develops our faculty to identify with other people, boost intellectual horizons with our mental and intellectual faculty being broadened to experience life explicitly and implicitly and enhanced to imagine human complexity. It cultivates our skills for detecting aesthetic sensibilities and deepens our facility to take delight in the written words.
This age now is the age of science. People travel faster by means of various forms of transportation such as scooters, cars, ships, aero planes. Scientists explore mysteries of nature and make many discoveries and inventions that science has changed every sphere of life. Various deadly diseases considered to be incurable can be cured because science has made medicines available to fight those diseases. It has led to decrease in the rate of mortality and increase in the life span. Machines which are used every day have made human beings comfortable. Internet, TV, the cinema and so forth connect people from all walks of life and all over the world. Human beings are indebted to science and its gifts. Though this age is referred to as the age of science, the importance of literature cannot be turned down. Virtues of courtesy, empathy, altruism, generosity can be learnt from literature. Moreover, literature enables one to have access to great creative minds and thoughts outside the realms of science and provides an invaluable window into the human nature as well as society. Barriers and walls mental or physical that exist among people and a number of disciplines shrink because of literature, which serves as the gateway to a deeper level of thought and as a way to enhance our minds and to improve the world through its beauty and the ideas. A work of literature acts as a way to understand the time it was written. People read literature for a number of different reasons. Literature in fact transcends the ages. Great literary works have many different layers of meaning and the readers gain various perspectives from literature, which is a good lens through which to perceive the world, present and past and to figure out future. When people study a great work of literature, they have an in-depth insight into the universal truth about which the writer captures, about the culture, an assortment of intellectual, artistic movements of the time. By going through great literature, the readers have a window into a variety of aspects of conditions and circumstances of human beings and the way they affect one another. Literature inspires human beings to unearth the humanity within his heart and human beings find themselves related to people since time immemorial through literature.
Science and literature are indispensable to human beings. Literature is the mirror of life, capturing feelings and emotions. It soothes tension away, enlightens the gloomy mind and cheers a person with the heavy heart. When human beings stop feeling emotions and are bereft of imagination, feelings and heart, literature will meet its death. Science is body and literature is soul or life. Man should go through literature and use science for the good of mankind and constructive activities. By the by, Otto’s remark in the aforementioned film, “T.S. is more complicated than advanced science” also deserves reflection.