Don't ask questions that you don't already know the answer to.
"What is Literature?" I don't know. And I still don't know after reading the article which I expected to answer the question for me.
Although I found it incredibly annoying that I didn't have a concrete answer as to what Literature is, I have a few more ideas of what it could be.
The formalist approach to literature brought together multiple ideas such as dialect and the use of language and how important it is. I found it interesting that "literature is a 'special' kind of language". I never thought about it in that way. I notice the types of words that are being used in writing, but usually attribute them to the time period or the area. It didn't occur to me that sometimes they are a purposeful device in writing.
It was also interesting that the point was mentioned that we do not always read for what is being said. We often read for what is not being said. Although it may be a lame example, I read the whole series of the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" books a few summers ago. As I was reading I could easily see the words that were being written for a teenage girl. But behind the text, I could also see the hidden innuendos that an adult reader could easily pick up. They were the type of books that you would take different things from depending upon when in your life you read them.
The idea that Literature has no meaning until someone gives it meaning makes sense. How often do people wait to see what makes the Top 10 list before they pick it up-or on the opposite side-stay far away from it.
It is important to realize that different groups of people take different things from a work. In a SHU European History class I read many novels that were "good" Literature. However , I am sure that people from the European culture can take far more from a book about their culture because they live it everyday.
Although I found it incredibly annoying that I didn't have a concrete answer as to what Literature is, I have a few more ideas of what it could be.
The formalist approach to literature brought together multiple ideas such as dialect and the use of language and how important it is. I found it interesting that "literature is a 'special' kind of language". I never thought about it in that way. I notice the types of words that are being used in writing, but usually attribute them to the time period or the area. It didn't occur to me that sometimes they are a purposeful device in writing.
It was also interesting that the point was mentioned that we do not always read for what is being said. We often read for what is not being said. Although it may be a lame example, I read the whole series of the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" books a few summers ago. As I was reading I could easily see the words that were being written for a teenage girl. But behind the text, I could also see the hidden innuendos that an adult reader could easily pick up. They were the type of books that you would take different things from depending upon when in your life you read them.
The idea that Literature has no meaning until someone gives it meaning makes sense. How often do people wait to see what makes the Top 10 list before they pick it up-or on the opposite side-stay far away from it.
It is important to realize that different groups of people take different things from a work. In a SHU European History class I read many novels that were "good" Literature. However , I am sure that people from the European culture can take far more from a book about their culture because they live it everyday.
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