Notes

English Literature is the people's most powerful mouthpiece: it is one of the world’s few constants, along with nature, culture, and conflict. Yet, where the aforementioned three strike in initial impact they lack for in historical resonance, with that being the fault of another constant in the world – change. Change, as a concept, is unforgiving – every facet of our existence within the world is slowly evolving without our consent, be it through minor, unnoticeable cultural shifts or substantial political change. The danger of this arises when memories of the past begin to fade – history is overwritten in our collective minds and attitudes continue to shift, as if to thoughtlessly dispose of the past.

This is why Literature as a medium is such a vital, necessary aspect of our lives, to contribute to and to study. It provides anyone and everyone with the platform to document the world through their eyes at any given moment of time, instantly removing said moment from the constant conveyor belt of change and rendering it in history, for generations and centuries to come. The beauty of writing Literature as an activity is that the contents - whether a profound social commentary, complete fiction or even a superficial stream of thought – will always hold value. The mere tone of a piece of fiction can reflect the societal conflicts of the era it was composed in, and even a stream-of-consciousness diary entry can shed light on minute personal conflicts, giving context to the social politics of the time.

The harm of erasure of history cannot be understated - after all, Chris Mortensen’s idea that “existing things are eternal because they cannot go out of existence” is true - every event (or “thing”) has made an impact, no matter how insubstantial. This begs the question – why should we, as a society, forget about something that has made an impact on the way we live our lives? Literature is, at its essence, the perfect medium for preservation of “things” - the mere act of consuming a Literary text is contributing to the preservation of a perspective of the past, even if one does this subconsciously.