Literature the soul of society

"literature, and in a wider sense, the arts, is the soul of society. There is no doubt that hard science and research plays a vital role in our understanding of the world we live in, and in the improvement of the human lifespan and the quality of said life."

... "within the pages of books lies the collective wisdom of our society. Even in the lightest of fiction, those throwaway airport books with throwaway plots, there is still truth to be found, be it in a particularly piercing observation of someone's character, or the way death can define a life."

"Literature inspires genius and creativity, and that, I believe, makes it worthy of being placed alongside the sciences and arts and given equal importance. That it is not is shortsighted, and an indictment of the current climate of world politics."

From: www.stuff.co.nz