Has Literature Gone Silent?

To read or watch the news these days can be a depressing activity (if it hasn't been that way forever) and it seems to be getting worse.  Divisiveness rules the airwaves and our society has become increasingly fragmented with each of those fragments clamoring to be recognized, heard, and acknowledged as superior to all others. 

So prevalent is the cacophony of competing voices, it becomes tempting to shut it all out, crawl into a comfortable cocoon, and wait until things blow over and calm down.  One significant drawback to that approach is that I doubt any of these issues currently rearing their ugly heads are going to fade away without a fight .

Historically, literature has responded with ferocity to address social ills and issues.  Think of Les Miserables, The Grapes of Wrath, To Kill a Mockingbird, and others.  They took the problems of their respective eras head on and didn't hold back.  Where would we be today without the voices of Victor Hugo, Harper Lee, John Steinbeck, Alexander Dumas and many others before and since?

Well, for one thing, we would be lacking some of the classic and foundational literature we have come to cherish and respect.  For another, the issues addressed in those works would have been left to languish without a voice.

While racial injustice and bigotry have smoldered under the surface for decades, only recently have they gained enough air to flare to life in the national spotlight.  Think about it.  We've all known there have been racists living among us forever, but until Ferguson and Charleston and Baltimore and NYC and others, the country has largely swept these things under the rug.  It has taken heinous acts of violence to bring racial tensions and violence to the forefront.  To make it all worse, each group is trying to drown out the views they oppose by shouting louder and with more viciousness while pushing their agenda to the front of the line and top of the heap. 

Yet it seems to me literature has remained somewhat mute on the topic of race.  The question of who is right and who is wrong is not the point of this article and one far too complex to tackle here, but the fact that authors seem to be ignoring it is and should be troubling.  Humans are incredibly complex beings and we will never, ever agree on everything.  But a good author can put into words a story that captures the essence of the issues and cause readers to stop and think.

And sometimes, stopping and thinking may lead to the answers we seek.