“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”
― Toni Morrison (Winner, Nobel Prize for Literature, 1993)
Mankind has witnessed numerous revolutions in the previous centuries. Such revolutions have shaped our society in the way it is at present. But was this the case earlier? I doubt it.
History has a strange way of telling its tale. From the French revolution to the World Wars; from the feminist movements to the animal rights activism; History has given us many reasons to ponder on the marvels of its creators. These revolutions would not have taken place had their not been these Great men and women to initiate such transformations in the perspectives of public. These were the writers, who by way of their writings were able to shape the modern thought in the society. These were the people who changed the world and its writings by their ideas and beliefs. Their works, from the fictional epics to the philosophical creeds, had a lasting impact on people and cultures all around the world.
Thus I bring to you 5 revolutionary writers who changed the world.
1. William Shakespeare:
No list of revolutionary writers is complete without mentioning the name of the Creator of romance in literature, William Shakespeare. William Shakespeare is widely and accurately regarded as the best writer in the history of the English language. His stunning body of plays and poems has shaped modern drama in innumerable ways. His comedies were witty and quick, and his dramas — including Hamlet and Macbeth — rank among some of the best works ever produced. He’s a writer who didn’t just change the world; he helped create it.
2. Fyodor Dostoyevsky:
One of the masters of Russian literature, Fyodor Dostoyevsky used his novels and short stories to profoundly explore human relationships, psychology, and religious beliefs. Crime and Punishment dealt with morality in a frank and moving way, and his final novel, The Brothers Karamazov, was also renowned for its ethical musings on nature, God, and moral choices. His works influenced many other writers, including Ernest Hemingway and James Joyce. He is considered to be among the first of the writers to dare to write against the society of their times.
3. William Butler Yeats:
Naming him revolutionary would be quite inadequate an adverb to describe his writings. The first Irishman to ever win the Nobel Prize for literature, William Yeats was a groundbreaking poet whose work ushered in that portion of the Celtic Revival referred to as the Irish Literary Revival, a movement in the early 20th century which Yeats and other writers brought Irish writing to a wider audience. His use of symbolism within traditional poetic style inspired generations of other writers. His poem “The Second Coming” contains many powerful and now-famous uses of Christian imagery in its social criticism.
4. Franz Kafka:
There are not many writers, who have made such an impact in the society that their name becomes an adjective describing works reminiscent of their own style. These days, whenever a story takes a surreal or horrific turn that highlights the unconquerable complexity of a faceless system, it’s called “Kafkaesque.” The Trial is a harrowing novel about a man persecuted by an omniscient authority for a crime whose nature is never revealed. The Metamorphosis is a similarly disturbing book in which the narrator awakens to learn he’s turned into a giant bug. Kafka’s stories probe the darker and less traveled areas of the human condition, and though he was only 40 when he died in 1924 (he starved to death when tuberculosis made eating too painful), his works earned him a reputation as one of the most original writers of the 20th century.
5. Gabriel Garcia Marquez:
Born in Colombia in 1927, Gabriel Garcia Marquez first made his literary mark as a journalist, during which time he and a few other writers formed the Barranquilla Group to share works and inspire each other. Later venturing into fiction, Garcia Marquez wrote One Hundred Years of Solitude, a dazzling work inspired by his home country and the war he had seen. The book was the author’s first major work to dabble in magical realism, a blending of genres that would color his body of work for decades. He also wrote Love in the Time of Cholera, a non-traditional love story that approaches romance from a unique point of view. His lifelong explorations of relationships and isolation had earned him the Nobel Prize.
The masterpieces which these 5 writers weaved for the mankind will always be instilled in the minds and hearts of the populaces, those dead and those unborn. These writers have not only changed the perspectives of the people, they also generated a sense of actualization among their readers. These writers changed the way the society operated and at the same time were able to earn various accolades and achievements all around the world. These were the people because of him whom, a new and beautiful world have been created. This is the World of Literature.
By- Utkarsh Panwar
