BLOGPOST 7: Immortality in Literature

Choosing a topic for the research writing was one of the hard things I had came through during this English term. I had so many topics in mind such as Wisdom, Salem Witch Trials, Evolution of Clothing, etc. But immortality is the only topic that really fascinates me because the idea of living forever is astounding. I've been reading books that involves immortality like Twilight where an ordinary girl named Bella fell in love with a more than a hundred years old immortal vampire; Harry Potter where Voldemort tried to split his soul into seven pieces to restore his life and also he drank unicorn blood and sought the Sorcerer's Stone in order to be immortal; The Secrets of The Immortal Nicholas Flamel where it talks about the 15th century alchemist Nicholas Flamel and his quest together with the legendary twins Sophie and Josh to retrieve the Codex from the English Magician, John Dee; and also Percy Jackson where it talks about the immortal Greek gods. Those are just some of the books that inspired me to do a further research on immortality.

With further research, i found an article entitled "Death and Immortality in Literature" written by Stanley Zurek. The said article is a theosophical perspective of immortality. It talks about the immortality of the soul.

According to the article, immortality has been a subject matter not only in science, religion and philosophical view but also in literature. Many classical authors way back in the medieval time has been writing down poems, stories, ode, etc about immortality. It is also stated in the article that literature from all over the world has been embracing the concept of immortality.

It was written in the article that in India, Bhagavad-Gita, a certain portion of the famous epic poem talks about immortality. It is stated in the poem that the Spirit in man, Krishna, the Inner God stated that everyone is immortal. In Egypt, there is the so-called Book of the Dead which is somehow similar to some of the passages of the Christian New Testament. It talks about the immortality of soul. In Greece, there is the Odysseus wherein it described the journey of Odysseus to the Underworld. It is stated in the article that he talked to the spirits of the dead. In the story, Odysseus was able to summon some spirits by letting them drink sheep's blood from the pit that he dug. He talked to the spirits, including his deceased mother, and they gave him information that he was seeking for. That scenario gave us an idea that we can talk to the dead people through our own efforts and sacrifices to seek them. The spirits cannot seek us to the living world because they are somehow secured in the Underworld so we have to do it ourselves. Plato, a Greek philosopher wrote in some of his works about the soul in the Underworld that goes back to the living world through reincarnation. The Roman literature is quite similar with the Greek literature. A Rome, there is the Aeineid where in its 6th book, it talked about the adventure of Aeneas in Underworld. In thee book, it is said that he descended to the Underworld and conversed with his departed father. He also saw the spirits who are on their way to the living world to be reincarnate including his son-to-be. Silvius. That case is the same with the Latin philosopher Apuleius' works called Metamorphoses or also called as The Golden Ass. In England and In America, there are the works of  Dante called "The Divine Comedy", Shakespeare, and Milton's Comus and On he Death of a Fair Infant which he talks about reincarnation.
Mahabhdrata,

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"It is said that we fear that which we do not understand"

 I agree in this statement stated by the author in the article. We all fear the unknown because we only tend to embrace the things we are familiar of. Just like death, we fear death because we don't know what happens next after we die. In my opinion, we should not fear death because death itself is a next great adventure.

Vampires are the most famous immortals of today's literature. Many books, movies and TV series has been made based on the legendary creatures. I, myself, have been fascinated with vampires ever since I read the Twilight series way back when I was in high school. Twilight series has been very popular  at my school. Every students in my previous school talked about it and you'll never be able to know what they're talking about until you read the books so I decided to read it for the sake of being "in".

After reading the 2,458 pages of the said book series, I understood why it became so popular. The story was very moving. Everytime I read it, I felt like I've been sucked up by the pages and I imagine myself as one of the characters. In total, I've read the books 6 times each.

Why do vampires became so popular? An article entitled "Why Vampires Have Become so Popular" by Shawn Greinert answered my question.

In the article, he said that vampires became so popular because of the Twilight series. It's about a century old vampire who fell in love with a normal teenager. The romance love story in the said books made not only the teenagers but also the avid readers of today's generation to stay up late at night reading it. In addition to that, the vampires' characteristics and traits portrayed in the story made it even more appealing. Many teenagers, including me, fantasized to become a vampire or at least, meet one.

"Vampires live forever, have supernatural power, and go about the world living all life has to offer. Tell this to a teen going through difficult times in their life, and there is no wonder why vampires have such a high popularity" 

 I agree on this statement stated by Shawn Greinert. The characteristics of vampires are well beyond reality and that what makes the teens of today's generation read a lot of books. They fantasize things that they don't see everyday or ever at all like immortal vampires, powerful wizards or magical places. Those serves as an inspiration to them and helps them see things in different perspectives.

Reading is very essential to us. Through reading, we gain the knowledge that has been preserved for so many years. Fantasy or not, it helps us mold ourselves and our beliefs by applying what is written in the books in out daily lives. In reading, we enter a world that is entirely our own