Fiction is one of the most ancient genres. It is the basis of the myths and legends. The themes, plots and presentation of characters diversified a lot over the centuries but that does not completely drive them away from the original sources from various fictional works of the old. So, which themes remind the same for more than 3,000 years? Read the content below to learn more.
The most famous fictional revolutions in literature: From ancient times to the present
Fictional literature has always been reflecting something that humanity couldn’t understand or prevent. It has no rules or limits. In our imagination, we can create any characters, worlds, physical rules, relationships between them, or any stories. We can also take the existing world, characters, political situations and create a fantastic event. Which part of imaginary elements must a book contain to be a fiction novel?
What is fiction?
According to Oxford Living dictionary, fiction is prose that describes imaginary events and people. From ancient times people are using imagination to predict, prevent, or understand the events they observe but can’t explain. Does it mean that every Greek myth, every religion book, and every legend is a fiction? According to Oxford dictionary, yes, because all of them contain imaginary events and people; this logic leads us to the conclusion that fiction has appeared together with cave drawing or wedge writing. Meanwhile, science fiction is considered to appear around 2,000 years ago including the elements of contemporary fantasy such as magic, paranormal and supernatural elements. Some deem Epic of Gilgamesh to be the first sci-fi literature. It includes statements of immortality and apocalypse.
Indian Literature
Another example of ancient sci-fi is Ramayana which is the Hindu epic poem. The story is about a divine prince who is trying to rescue his beloved from the hostage-taking of an evil demon Ravana. On his way, the prince is using a lying chariot which he controlled with his thoughts. Sometimes it can fly by itself. It can vaguely resemble the modern autopilot technologies. The chariot can be controlled with a thought which can slightly remind the modern science fiction theme of the brain-computer transit.
Greek literature
The first fictional revolution themes appeared in the ancient Greek literature. Aristophanes, one of the best ancient comedy writers, created his work The Birds in 414 BC. This comedy described a story of avian humanoids who decided to supplant Olympus gods. They have created a floating city for that purpose. Since Athenians deemed to have plenty of wars, the book included satire which highlighted this particular feature. It is the earliest revolution found in literary fiction books of the ancient times.
Thousand and One Nights
Several medieval books mentioned concepts of robots. One of them is Thousand and One Nights. On the story, The City Of Brass the members of archeological expedition met the brass house with a rider who led them to the abandoned city. The novel doesn’t have any revolution in it but has the element of ancient sci-fi which includes modern navigation and remote control systems.
These are only a few examples of how ancient and medieval literature can be interpreted. Fictional personalities, creatures, events, and fantastic images were present in every novel, story, myth, or any other type of literature. Modern fiction represents more options for imagination. In spite of it, the history offers a variety of revolutions. All of them were reflected in literature either biographical or based on real stories or fiction in an allegoric or satiric method.
Animal Farm
The best way to represent best novels is to know more about them from website for writing papers. It is reasonable to start with a novel in the list is Animal Farm by George Orwell. It reveals and highlights the principles of Stalin-ism in Russia not the example of an animal farm of the British countryside. First, the animals organized the revolution against their holder and declared new Animal Farm free from human and led by two pigs Napoleon and Snowball. The story develops on multiple levels. The relationship, though easily illustrated through farm animals, can be applied to social classes today. First, it accuses rich of being rich by means of having poor workers; then the animal society is trying to create capitalistic utopia which turns out impossible. As soon as it interacts with the outside world behind the boundaries of Animal Farm, it turns into a totalitarian society.
Turning the focus to famous movies; there are many that have changed the world and the thoughts of the people through imaginative depiction of characters. Visual presentation of imaginative thoughts increased the curiosity of people and led many to pursue the field of visual effects, graphics and multimedia designers. It is not odd when people say that they have seen the The Lord of the Rings movie series but have not read the actual works from J.R.R. Tolkien. Fiction in movies may have reduced the number of original book readers but certainly opened doors to many fields where the individual is actually performing rather than just admiring the literary works.
Harry Potter
All stories about Harry Potter are must-read books. It is a story of a wizard boy who is the chosen one to protect the world from Voldemort and his army of Death Eaters. All the fiction books of the story describe a supernatural world of magic where wizards have their own lives, rules, and destinies. In spite of supernatural reality, all of them have human feelings, values, and aims. It is hard to find a person in the modern world who hasn’t heard about the adventures of Harry Potter. The book can be titled as a revolution in fiction.
Star Wars
It is hard to create the list of fantasy revolutions without Star Wars. No need to mention the content of the series. It is hard to think of the modern world without the influence of this legendary set of rebellions. It is hard to find a more revolutionary trilogy that defined the understanding of the fiction. The trilogy, similar to Harry Potter, takes place in an imaginary world with fantastic creatures, rules, and other elements, but based on human relations. It describes the beauty of love between man and woman, parents and children, friends and other types of relationships. It also highlights plenty of other important for humanity values.
Matrix
It is a mind-blowing movie which changes the reality. It was a new way of thinking and new concept which revealed the initial AI threats. The movie makes watchers believe that life they used to live is not real. It is a revolutionary conclusion that doesn’t only make us believe in the existence of fantastic creatures, but to believe that you are a fantastic creature. It changes the reality and makes the modern world impossible to live in.
Bottom line
The list of fantasy novels is long starting from ancient times until now. All of them make people think border-less. Novels may predict future, explain un-explainable phenomenon and can let the mind to enjoy the beauty of someone’s imagination. Meanwhile features like love, god, and evil remixes the same from ancient times.