Literature As History

Literature as History, between its two seemingly opposite spectrums, puts forth an idea of unusual convergence between the fields of literature and history. It begins by showing how literary material — since the Sangam period of Tamil literary Renaissance in the first millennium up to the very recent globally acclaimed Indo-Anglian literature — has reflected the twists and turns of history. Sometimes it highlights simply the life lived by the people in their everyday contentment and misery; sometimes it is the Sufiana tariqa (the Sufi way) of syncretic spiritualism (tassawuf), and sometimes it is the literary symbolism of nature trying to represent the nation.