Pain in Literature

Paper Summary:

This paper uses works by Ashraf Rushdy ("Exquisite Corpse" and "On Impact") and D.B. Morris ("The Culture of Pain") to show how the authors go about expressing the severity of their subjects. The paper argues that, if adequate evidence of pain in literary writings is not furnished, then the writing itself will not attract the readers, nor will the readers be attracted to the idea of pain. It also shows that, if writers use pain as an attractive force in their writings in the way that Ashraf Rushdy has, a reader finds it much easier to accept what idea is expressed. In cases where writers do not provide evidence for the presence of pain in the writings, the work does not have an impact.

From the Paper:

"Rushdy's evidence of pain achieved through photography is vital, but he also reminds the reader that the evidence furnished in this way should be accompanied by the facts that are relevant to it. If the photographic evidence were inappropriately made use of, then untold upheavals could result. In a cultural setting photographic evidence has the ability to unleash the greatest of emotions, and thus great care must be taken to ensure that the evidence is not used inappropriately. The precaution is essential, and is so because of the fact that "pictures of graphic violence still have to power to make an impression." He describes on the basis of a photograph of a slain African American triggering violence in the US."

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