Literature and Science

Our times have seen the scientific activity at its height: what once used to be impossible in the past has now become possible because of advancement in science and technology. Indeed, scientists both from the past and the present having worked wonders in their field have done a great favour to literary writings and our oral tradition of storytelling. About storytelling what once used to be discarded just because of being otherworldly, having nothing to do with the world of objective reality has come to be believed as true just because of science and technology. There are a number of examples in this regard.

In the long foggy nights of the winter with a chill of fear and silence reigning supreme, our ears were soothed by the stories our grandmothers used to tell us: the manner in which they would tell was fascinating. Thus spellbound as we were, of course, we were seldom or never convinced that what they told could exist in the objective world because, as mentioned above, it looked to be otherworldly; it had to do with things which we normally don't see happen in everyday life. 

Through storytelling we came across flying carpets which were able to carry two to three people. At that time, anybody thinking of flying carpets in the world of objective reality would, of course, have been termed as insane! Who might have predicted a time when, not to speak of this flying carpet, houses would be flying carrying hundreds of people into the other parts of the world. Science is a good friend of our oral tradition. 

In stories and dramas we used to read about magic bowls through which an individual was able to see what was happening in the world. In today's world, however, we have a much more advanced and sophisticated form of this magic bowl: the whole world has shrunk into our mobile screen. Not only that we can see in seconds what is happening in the world, but much more than this we can interact with people sitting thousands of miles from others. 

Literature brought us in contact with supernatural creation: witches, ghosts, giants and so on. There used to be an unending strife between forces of good and those of evil, each striving to dominate man. The force represented by wickedness would entrap human beings into the net of deception while that represented by goodness was all for getting him freed from the clutches of evil. Do such forces not exist in the 21st century? Aren't there forces which are bent upon destroying human beings and the planet by enslaving and exploiting them? If they are there, good forces are also there to save them, to steer them out of ignorance to the light of faith. Doesn't a reading of "Macbeth" urge us to see whether we are also surrounded by the watches? Doesn't the character of Faustus tell us of the Good Angel and the Evil Angel? 

What literary writers most of whom were visionaries predicted hundreds of years ago has come true today with more credibility. Marry Shelley's "Frankenstien" is a document that validitify our claim. With advancement in human knowledge, human relations were to die. With utter dependence on machines, human beings would cease to depend on each other. Salute to her vision: in today's world the artificial intelligence (AI) is replacing human beings. What next happens is beyond our understanding. 

Science is a good friend of literature; it has stood by literature through thick and thin. It would never forsake its friend. It opens up new ways to study literature.

-Muhammad Waqas Azeem 

05-09-2021