All peoples have been shaped with social, historical or artistic models inherited from the past. These models have travelled through time thanks to oral transmission first and then with the help of books but also monuments. Books are divided between fiction and reality but the boundaries between them are sometimes blurry. Fiction describes imaginary events and people, and it is usually not based on real people and facts. As for reality it is right the opposite but there is a close link between both notions.
As a matter of fact reality nourishes fiction and reality is better understood with the help of fiction therefore we can say that both are interconnected. Indeed readers look for representation that match their situations in precise moments of their lives and they adapt their behaviour to these models. Narratives either real or fictitious are the basis of our cultural heritage and they feed our collective imagination. Through them we share a common belonging. Children grow up with super-heros teaching them how to be good and courageous, they fight villains and the imaginary plots are often an adaptation of reality. These thrilling stories include suspense and a visionary view of life, they are often allegories revealing a moral.
Mythology has provided us numerous tales to learn from ; they feature fantastic heros who warn us against bad behaviour and they teach us what really matters in life. These meaningful stories stimulate critical thinking and allow us to live experiences impossible in real life.
Historical events or characters feed our imagination and help us understand the world around us. Lately a wind of protest has blown in the USA because a part of the population thought that the past, or shall we say history itself, was not a model anymore. More than that, they decided it was time to suppress some monuments that conveyed evil representations of our world. This backlash shows the importance of landmarks given by literature and monuments.
It seems that things are evolving in modern literature that gives us examples of dystopias. Dystopias are the opposite of utopias that highlight a perfect world. The purpose of dystopias is still to make us understand the surrounding world better or to open our eyes on a specific environmental issue for example. Yet this time it involves an imaginary society in the future which experiences a lot of suffering due to a terrible event that has already happened. These dystopias often appear to be closer and closer to reality which makes them look rather pessimistic and bleak.
