Looking for Peace in Literary Novels: Imagination as a Tool to Counteract Violence for Peaceful Change?

ABSTRACT

To investigate how imagination partakes in shaping the spaces in which we think and live, and what processes could help imagining social realities differently, the present work proposes an interweaving of peace and literature. The analysis of Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment and Patrick Süskind's Perfume is founded upon an understanding of literature as a conduit for the establishment of spaces wherein imagination of peace can take place, and narratives of violence can be explored and transformed. By combining theoretical lenses from Medina and Lederach (2025, 2005), the analysis of multifaceted social violence, as narrated by the novels, can be interpreted as an appeal for peace, in which the transformation of peace structures is considered a social imperative. This work explores the relationship between individual and social experiences and their impact on collective social mental health, thereby highlighting the need to examine and modify our peace agencies to address the influence of pervasive violent narratives in our cultures.