Impulses behind literature

Literature grows directly out of life, so it is obvious that in life itself we have to search for its sources. Hudson, in “Some Ways of Studying Literature”, discusses four major impulses that have given birth to the various forms of literary expression. The four impulses that Hudson talks about are:

1.      Our Desire for Self-expression:

Hudson says that “we are strongly impelled to confide to others what we think and feel.” All of us have a natural desire to express ourselves. We always want to open our hearts to others. We wish to express our feelings and thoughts to others. This desire for self-expression results in the production of literature. A piece of literature is an expression of the writer’s mind and heart, his emotions and ideas. Thus our desire for self-expression is the first and primary impulses that give birth to literature.

 

2.      Our Interest in People and their doings:

“We are intensely interested in men and women, their lives, motives, passions, relationships”, admits Hudson. Our interest in the lives of other people and their doing gives birth to literature. As human beings, we cannot live quite aloof from others. We always like to know about other people, their thoughts, their feelings, their problems, and, their resistance to certain problems, their achievements and limitations, and, their success and failure. To know other people, their thoughts, the ways of their life, and, their customs and lives, we read-write literature.    

3.      Our Interest in the World of Reality and Imagination:

The two reasons that stimulate the production of literature are man’s interest in the world of reality and man’s escape from the world of reality to the world of imagination. As a man, we are always interested in what is going on around us, and what is happening around us. As a man of thoughts also we are eager to know the things around us, the realities of the world.  Our interest in this world of realities results in the production of literature.

Many times, man is fed up with the world of realities. He wants to escape into the world of imagination where he experiences mental bliss. Man creates his own world, the world of imagination, and lives a peaceful life away from the world of bitter realities. The world of fantasy and fancy makes our lives better than the real world. This also results in the production of literature. The world’s great literature is the mixed product of the world of realities and imagination.

4.      Our Love for Form as Form:

Hudson believes, “We take special satisfaction in the mere shaping of expression into forms of beauty.” Man, by his nature, is unable to keep his experience, observations, emotions, ideas, and fancies, to himself, but he is on the contrary under the stress of constant desire to express these to others and for that he chooses various channels of expression. Man is also fond of particular forms of literature. And many times, his love for particular forms results in the production of literature.