How do literary texts capture the spirit of the times and the values of a culture?
It is often that authors write concerning the times in which they are living, basing their writings in their own personal experiences and biases. This is referred to as "context" which is the circumstances that surround a given text and help to specify it's meaning. Context is best expressed as contexts, in plural, because of the wide variety of external forces that affect the general reception or understanding of a work. To answer this question we must focus on four important types of context, these are the "cultural context", the "historical context", the "context of production", and the "context of reception". The first one refers to the culture of the time and place where the novel and the characters take place. The second one alludes to the historical aspect of the novel, the historical facts of the times in which the novel is based on. The third one differs to the other as it is no longer about the content of the novel but rather the context of the author (critical positions, historical facts, biographical aspects of the author's life.), although many times it coincides that the author is writing about the times in which he lives on and maybe even about himself, it is not necessarily a requirement. And the last one to consider is the context of reception, which refers to us, as a reader. Once you approach a work as a reader, the meaning that is communicated, that is sent from the text to you, is influenced by everything that you bring to it, from you reading to your personal experiences and biases.
In the case of "To Kill a Mockingbird", it was written by Harper Lee and published in 1960, but that is the context of production, the historical and cultural context, by the other hand, were the events that occurred near her hometown in the year 1936, when she was only 10 years old. In the case of non-fiction books, its really important the cultural and historical context, and even the context of production. If Harper Lee would have written this the same year that it occurred, or a few years later, that would give us the perspective of a 10 year old on the events, and not the mature perspective we get from an adult. As this is a non-fiction book, it is something that really happened, and happened during her childhood, therefor the cultural and historical context of the times of her childhood are extremely important, setting it on a different time would change everything. As the novel deals with issues of rape and racial inequality, a change in the time when it is based would change the whole novel. During the 1930's, African american people were already discriminated against and when the country got hit by the great depression it got even worse. The Great Depression, being a severe worldwide economic depression in the 1930's was not only devastating for the poor countries, but the rich ones too. Everything relating money just dropped causing devastating effects. Unemployment was a severe issue, and due to racism, white male employment was the first priority to many, so African american would have a hard time finding jobs. And even if they found a job, doesn't matter if it was exactly the same one as a white male, they would get paid less, just because they were Afro-american. Another issue during the 1930's was the dust bowl, referred to as a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands.
On the other hand, the novel "Fatelessness", written by Imre Kertész was published in the year 1975, written between 1969 and 1973, but that is just the context of production, which is post war, but the cultural and historical context of the novel is indeed during the second world war, from the perspective of a 14 year old Hungarian Jew, whose life changed drastically by being sent to the concentration camps. As well as on "To Kill a Mockingbird", the context is essential to the novel as it is a non-fiction semi autobiography novel. A survivor, who actually survived because he lied about his age, telling us the story of how the war was from the other perspective. Imagine having an ordinary life, and from one day to another, you are sent in to a concentration camp, where they don't even mind about you and your health. The fact that it is written by someone who was there, differs from reading a historical fact about the concentration camps, we read how exactly the people inside the concentration camps felt, how they carried through all this.
In conclusion, the circumstances that surround a text, either in the production of the novel, the reception, and most importantly the times of the novel itself, are essential to understanding it in different ways. Maybe reading a novel that has racism in it would not have been a big deal during the 1930's, but reading it now, when humanity has understand that we must live in a racial equality world, we understand how people suffered living through those times. Or reading a novel about a young men who is sent to the concentration camps, reading it know we understand their suffering, how they lost it all, and in the conditions they had to live. But if we change the context of reception, lets imagine that a German Soldier reads this in the year 1943, it will be nothing new, maybe he even had to follow orders in being in one of the camps. So, the context truly changes how we understand the novel, and how the novel develops.
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