1. How can we explain the continued interest in a particular work in different contexts and at different times?
The different events in human history, create what we are nowadays. All the events that have passed have importance in the result of what human are or in the society in which we live. We know what have passed because we read our history in books, but also by reading novels, we can understand or learn more about the historical events of different times, highlighting the social context in which novels are written, and the stories takes place. This is the reason why people is interested in works (novels in this case) that are in different context and at different times, and also its important to highlight that people its always going to be interested in know why we are now how we are, in other words, the reasons that molded a society in what its nowadays.
I can show 2 different examples about novels of different times ('30 - '40) that people still read them, because those novels represent a very interesting element in human history, and as I said before, because those events, we live how we live nowadays, maybe with no discrimination, in peace, etc.
The first novel is 'To kill a mockingbird' of Harper Lee published in 1960. The story is about what the author lived during her childhood, but he represent his childhood, by using different characters. The story takes place in a unreal town called Maycomb, Alabama. The important element of this novel is the historical context in which the history is narrated. 1930' were very difficult days in EEUU because of the Great Depression that take place in 1929. Also the society was very racist (especially people from Alabama) so black people was discriminated, something that nowadays we consider stupid and reprehensible. Some of the main events of the story is Tom Robinson's trial, in which a white man, called Atticus Finch defended a black man (Robinson). Atticus was very criticized by people, because they didn't accept that a white man was in the side of a black man. Nowadays when we read this it may be considered like something with no reason, but racism was something that characterized those times, and was considered like something maybe logic and normal, very different with our reality.
The other novel is 'Fatelessness' by Imre Kertesz published in 1975. This novel also is autobiographical, because the author wrote his own experiences by creating a character, in this case, called Georg Koves, who was send to Auschwitz and Buchenwald (concentration camps), and the novel narrates the experience of this 14 years old boy in this dreadful places. The story takes place during the Holocaust, that was the persecution of the jewish people in Europe during the Second World War. The things that Germans did in the concentration camps are consider one of the worst acts of humanity in humans history. Thousand of jewish people die during the 6 years of war, in this concentration camps, as in the novel are described, were like being in the hell, with hard working routines, poor diet (no food), bad conditions (illness), etc. And the sensation, that in any moment you can be send to a gas camera to die suffocated. This is also a very important moment in human history, as I said, one of the worst of humanity.
The thing is that this events, make people reflect and thing 'why we are doing this?', 'It's good what we are doing?' and many questions that open peoples mind and make them understand that humans can be like that, so its important to don't repeat this act and learn about them, and that the reason, again, of what nowadays we don't see people chasing jewish or discriminating someone because this color of the skin. Because of the reflection and the change is why nowadays, in many cases, peace is something that is around us.
In conclusion, this novels are an important piece of human history, because they are contextualized in important events of human life, such us the Great Depression (and racism society) and the Holocaust in the Second World War. 2 different event that doesn't make us feel proud of what we have make us human to our brothers, but because of those 2 events, nowadays we doesn't repeat the same mistakes that we have make in the past. So, that's the reason of why people still read those novel that are contextualized 70-80 years ago, because those text represent and important moment of human history that its always important to take in consideration, and know about them.
