Influence of Religion at Literature and Art review

Influence of Religion at and Art - Literature look backward ExampleThis paper will begin with the statement that the twentieth century was the most discrepant plosive in the history of mankind. On the one hand that was the epoch of scientific, technical and intellectual progress and bulky hitches in all spheres of human activity. On the other, the 20th century was the board of deep spiritual crisis. any person in the world revised old established ideas about good and evil. Thomas Mann called it the age of endless wars and revolutions (Jasper, 1992, p. 54). It assumed collisions non only between countries and classes but also in human minds and souls. The extreme experience of the World War I and World War II was described by American writers who came to fight young, full of hopes and returned from the war with destroyed dreams and believes without finding the new ones. Such writers created their own literary productions - the books of Lost Generation. In their deeds Ernest Heming sort, William Folkner and others depicted disregarded surroundings, estrangement and deep pessimism caused by uncivilized reality. Ernest Hemingway wrote when men fight for the freedom of their country against a foreign invasion, and when these men are your friends, some hardly a(prenominal) friends and some of long allowing, you know how they were attached and how they fought, you learn, watching them live and fight and die, you learn that there are worse things than war. Cowardice is worse, treachery is worse, and simple selfishness is worse (Brian, 1988, p. 73). People, who got the scar of the war did not believe in divinity any more. The crisis of the twentieth century was one of the social phenomena that had to be acknowledged before it was dealt with. The way out of the crisis was hard and long because the chief(prenominal) reason of it was the changing of the attitude towards the Christian dogmas. Outstanding German philosopher Fridrich Nitse wrote Concept of Go d still was the strongest objection against existing We disclaim God. We deny the responsibility in God and due to this well save the world for the first time (Pelican, 1991, p. 83). Another philosopher Thomas Mann said that Christianity was one of the bases on which our civilization lied. In such turbulent times every person who was spiritually free and not only swimming with the stream of the age had an urgent necessity to reappraise his values, to realize them again and stand up for them. The 20th century strictly criticised Christian morality. just that criticism touched only the little ideas but the deep Christian dogmas that were found once stayed virginal (Jasper, 1992, p. 69). For the last two thousand geezerhood you could hardly find a literary work where the theme of religion, faith or God was omitted. These themes were omnipresent. Their variations - Christian images, symbols, allusions, associations, philosophical reflections on God were found in works of different wr iters, different genres and styles. American literature of the 20th century was not an exception. Till the time Kurt Vonneguts usage of Christian motives were not thoroughly examined. The critics had an sagaciousness that Christianity and Vonnegut were almost incompatible. They supposed the writers attitude towards Christianity was not serious but even negative. Only the last researches of his works showed the role and meaning of Christianity in authors world outlook. Religion played an important role in Vonneguts delicate world and the Bible was the main element of the authors thinking. Vonnegut emphasised the positive beginning of Christianity, its appeal to universal love. Nevertheless Vonnegut thought that the Christian religion couldnt prevent shocking crimes of the 20th century. J. Lundguist wrote a book dedicated to Kurt Vonnegut and his works. In it he analysed Vonneguts manner of writing and pointed out the cosmic irony as the main feature of writers method. He also touch ed the theme of Christian religion especially while analysing the Vonneguts novel Slaughter-House Five (1969). Lundguist compared the main hero of the novel with Jesus Christ.