Meaning: "What lasts is what is written. We look to find literature to find the essence of an age". What are some stories to support this statement?

Literature is divided up into literary periods. The novels, stories, plays, and epics of these eras generally share certain characteristics. Short stories from the Modern era (1914-) for instance tend to be fragmented and cyclical. Examples of stories from this era are "The Dubliners" by James Joyce, any story by Evelyn Waugh, and any story by Faulkner or Hemingway.

Great literature is enduring not because of its form, but because the ideas in them are constantly rewritten because of their universality.