Literature and Science: A landscape of Contrasts
Literature is often a reflection of the ideas and mores prevalent in a society at a given time. It is therefore not surprising that ever since science began to play a major role in human civilization it too has had an impact on literature. In overt ways or only surreptitiously, emphatically or only mildly, science has been leaving its imprint on the literature of the peoples who have experienced the jolts of scientific thought and discoveries. This becomes evident when on compares the literature of pre-scientific times with that of the post-scientific period. Before the rise of modern science, when religion and metaphysics rather than facts and figures held the attention of thinkers, literature was influenced largely by world views that rested on popular beliefs and pulpit teachings. It is good that this was so, and that this continues to be the case in many instances. For on the one hand such literature throws much light on the life and val...