Another Reason to Read Classic Fic
Understand Modern Culture by Knowing from Whence It Came
Some contemporary societal standards might seem odd and arbitrary, but their origins may be explained by an understanding of ancient trendsetters.
As any fan of the current bell-bottom fashion will tell you, rarely does a new fad arrive without being birthed by some previous cultural wave. It's often difficult, however, to spot exactly where some of society’s more unusual axioms came from, though a familiarity with the blockbusters and bestsellers of old can help to shed some light on the matter.
To know the now is to grasp the past
As an example, consider our modern mores and morals. Ever wondered why we get hung-up on the things we get hung-up on? In some Eastern cultures, you will find temples devoted to the penis, with giant carven phallic images decorating the grounds in honour of this fount of life. Meanwhile, in its animated films, Disney continues to portray bare-chested male characters without nipples.
It goes without question that Western culture’s moral core lies in Christianity, but is it possible to find a more precise source for such societal quirks as Disney’s denippled heroes?
Well, in addition to the Bible itself, one might also look at Dante’s Inferno; a poetic tour of hell and its environs which provides a neatly structured and extensively detailed outline of not only the Christian world’s fiery nether-reaches, but the exact severity and basic ‘wrongness’ that the belief assigns to each variety of sinful behaviour.
Though we tend to view whatever currently comprises ‘trendy’ in a here-and-now sense, it often helps to know the roots of the beliefs that shape how you dress, act, think and speak, and a basis for modern maxims can often be found among the library’s ‘classic hits’.
