What is literature?

Synopsis: text, context, media, 2019

The general feeling of malaise, if not crisis, in Literary Studies forces us to urgently look for solutions that will bring the discipline forward. This article is a call for a concentration on fundamental issues in the study of literature, and at the same time for a more rigorous and accountable methodology in studying both the content and the form of literary texts as well as readers' reactions to them. Some illustrations of work in the area of Empirical Study of Literature are provided, showing how fiction is a powerful regulator of human emotion, especially by formal features of the text. Case 1 reports a study which looks at the influence of narrative perspective (internal focalization in the first place) on judgements of readers. Case 2 delves into the textual ingredients by which readers' absorption in a narrative world is enhanced. These ingredients are foremost of a kind that goes under the name of "foregrounding" devices in literary studies. The conclusion from the research is that texts that are rich in foregrounding are better able to elicit a more complex response , i.e., a more powerful impact, from readers. In its turn Case 3 looks at how readers react to literary pieces dealing with deep human suffering. The findings indicate that literature is able to evoke strong feelings of empathy through its formal make-up. The results also support the argument that one's exposure to literature is the main variable to have an impact on prosocial behaviour, irrespective of personality, gender, age or social situation. Thus we claim that literary texts exert a powerful influence on readers' value sharing, absorption and empathy, and the impact can only be studied empirically. The article shows a way out of the current crisis, not by just opening up a new fashion, in which literary texts are "inter-preted" in yet another way, mostly academically, but by taking literary texts seriously in their workings on the minds and hearts of readers-which is ultimately what texts are written for.

International journal of english, literature and social science, 2024

The main and basic purpose of this research is to investigate and analyze the function of literature in contemporary times, when the mirror of truth is broken into a thousand pieces and human society is more involved than ever. They create new difficulties and fight over them, and in the meantime, people are the victims. Therefore, with its systematic activities, literature overcomes these fences drawn in front of human society with artistic language. The fact that today's human society is falling into misery with each passing day, without a doubt, one of the reasons is that human society is far from literature. This is because in most societies, especially in the third world societies, reductionist positions have been adopted towards literature, and these positions are another step towards damage and nigritude. The method used in this research is descriptive-analytical and based on library studies. In this research, while philosophically examining the place of literature in modern times, we will also briefly mention some writers who have turned the unsaid of today's people into words through poetry and literature. The findings showed that, in the epoch of the collapse of meaning and fencing between people in human society, literature is the only one that gives us the possibility of considering ourselves as members of each other everywhere in this world. It is through literature that today's people understand and recognize one another, despite their differences based on faith, religion, geography, gender, etc. Therefore, literature in our time is the real defender of the common phenomena among humans.

International Journal of Linguistics and Computational Applications , 2020

All of us know the importance and value of good literature in our lives. Right from the stories told by our grandmothers to the great education we receive later in life, literature plays a significant part all throughout. It influences us and makes us understand the ways of life. Narratives, in particular, inspire empathy and lend a whole new perspectives to us and that of others too. This also works with the morals induced within useither directly or by implied means. When one reads literature, one gains insight, knowledge and wisdom, refining our emotions in the process too. In fact, literature is life manifested in myriad forms. Snippets of life are recorded in a script or audio or videowhatever the manner of preserving. We read, hear or see it accordingly to connect with the slice of humanity in it and this in turn, again strengthens our mind, providing immeasurable growth, leading to abilities of thinking beyond the traditional gamut, what one could term as "outside the box". In this manner, literature is a reflection of reality, becoming a product of art when distanced and seen objectively and a window to an ideology. This paper seeks to throw light on the importance of literature and how it imparts human values, thus making it very necessary to be incorporated in each and every syllabus of almost every major stream, whether humanities, social sciences , engineering, management or sciences. The study involves a mixed-methods research design involving student and teacher interviews, avid recipients, questionnaires and lesson observations. The results were quite heartening, suggesting a positive response. The paper concludes by discussing the potential and outreach of literature to every study as well as the minds of its avid recipients, of any age-group, class or creed.

in Grenzen der Literatur: Zu Begriff und Phänomen des Literarischen, edited by Fotis Jannidis, Gerhard Lauer, and Simone Winko (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2009): 142-60.

The practice of making and consuming imaginative verbal artifacts appears in all known cultures. People all over the world, in all ecological and social conditions, play with the sounds and meanings of words, create imaginary worlds with intentional agents, goals, and symbolic images, and produce fantasy structures in which characters and events are linked in thematically significant ways to produce tonally modulated outcomes. All forms of cultural imagination—religious, ideological, artistic, and literary—are imbued with the passions derived from the evolved and adapted dispositions of human nature. Human action depends on the human sense of value and meaning. Literature and the other arts provide a means for making the value and meaning of experience available to the imagination.

What is Literature?: The sublime/uncanny as a conceptual framework for answering the answerless, and the problematic quest for certainty.

Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 2010

In this article it is argued that feelings are all important to the function of literature. In contradiction to music that is concerned with the inwardness of humankind, literature has, because of language, the capacity to create fictional worlds that in many respects are similar to and related to the life world within which we live. One of the most important reasons for our emotional engagement in literature is our empathy with others and our constant imagining and hypothesizing on possible developments in our interactions with them. Hence, we understand and engage ourselves in fictional worlds. It is further claimed and exemplified, how poetic texts are very good at rhetorically engage and manipulate our feelings. Finally, with reference to the important work of Ellen Dissanayake, it is pointed out that the first kind of communication in which we engage, that between mother and infant, is a kind of speech that positively engages the infant in a dialogue with the mother by means of poetic devices.

We all drink water on a daily basis unconsciously. If someone asks us what water is, we cannot often give an accurate answer. Likewise, we read literature on a daily basis and numerous universities offer literature courses to students. In addition, these universities require students to do thesis on literary works but what is the identity of literature? What is the best or genuine literary work? There are burning questions to ask with respect to literature? The answers to some of questions are indefinite and infinite. The present study is a reflection on the identity of the Literature, the main purpose of which to shed light on four questions: 1) Can literature be defined? 2) What is literary value? 3) What is the canon? 4) How does the canon affect us, as readers? To achieve the aim of the study, a library method of research was utilized. Having selected the area of the study, the present researcher made notes of the words and phrases of the topic under study. Afterwards, the researcher did readings on different sources available on the topic and notes were made on research cards. Next, the collection of data was followed by critical discussion and finally a summary of the discussion was purveyed.

Years ago, when I was a student of foreign languages and literature I came across a book titled “Literature: The Human Experience”. The title left a deep impression on me because so far I had assumed that my love for reading literature (as well as writing it) represented more a kind of escapist attitude to life than a realistic one. Escaping from reality is what I had loved most since early childhood. Writing for many authors is a kind of self-medication, to make life more bearable. However, upon seeing that book title it struck me that literature often represents a deeper reality than the one that can be seen with one’s eyes; or in the words of the Little Prince: “And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” The vast majority of writers are NF types in Myers-Briggs, or “gatherer” types, as I call them. In fact, my own INFP type is overrepresented in world literature, from Homer, Shakespeare, Tolkien, Orwell to George R.R. Martin and Neil Gaiman. A lot of these writers’ experience does not only reflect human experience and the experience of hunter-gatherer types living in a farmer-herder society in particular. To begin with, there is often an idea of parallel worlds, one of muggles and one of wizards. This kind of motif can be found in, Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland, the Narnia books, The Wizard of Oz and many more. Alternatively, strange, mutant-like beings live among “normal” humans: superheroes, X-men and aliens (like in My Favorite Martian). The Percy Jackson and Miss Peregrine books are examples of this kind of fiction. Joseph Campbell found that The Hero’s Journey is a common pattern in many narratives. The hero lives in an ordinary world and gets called for a mission. The reluctant hero starts his journey into a special world, has many adventures and finally returns to his own world. What has changed is not only that the hero completes his mission, but also the hero himself has changed, he has found his true self. This pattern is well known from many stories, like The Lord of the Rings (Frodo), Harry Potter and The Hunger Games. This cycle represents the stepping outside of ones’ comfort zone as a hunter-gatherer type. We do not like conflict, but we don’t like conforming to a world that isn’t ours either. Hunter-gatherer types find it hard to conform to an “ordinary world” and frequently try to find self-actualization outside conventional jobs. A situation that is beautifully expressed in Robert Forst’s poem “The Road Less Traveled”: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

Philosophical Investigations, 2004

In modern times a gap has appeared between the arts of history and literature, and the sciences of historicism and criticism. Many modern critics, historians, and teachers of literature and history (and even many so-called authors of literature) have welcomed, or at least complied with, the "scientification" of their arts, resulting in widespread illiteracy with regard to literature and history. The solution to this problem lies in a (re-)investigation of how the art of literature teaches us the truth. I maintain that the lifeblood of literature is the set of common joys and griefs, the common blessings and sufferings, of mankind. Without a communication of these passions as passions with the result of a transformation or shaping of the soul-without a mimesis, as the Greeks would say-across the boundaries of tribe, race, gender and era, there is no literature; and no literacy. Using a scene from Solzhenitsyn's First Circle, I argue that these passions are part of the truth (or falsity) of any story involving human beings. So literature and history would both be restored if the writers, readers, and teachers of each developed a deeper concern for the whole truth.

Azalea: Journal of Korean Literature & Culture, 2011

Kwang-su many generations, yet its meaning is radically different in the field of jurisprudence. Although its usage differs somewhat from one country to another, generally speaking, pŏmnyul means a set of coercive regulations established and enforced by state authority. However, within the juridical system, pŏmnyul means a set of laws promulgated by the state after having been approved by members of the parliamentary cabinet who have incorporated reasonable opinions from sovereign subjects. In short, the meaning of the term differs depending on whether it is used in a specialized field or in everyday situations. By the same token, the meaning of munhak (literature) also changes. The definition of munhak, as used today, is based on our understanding of the English term, "literature." In other Azalea What Is Literature? by Yi Kwang-su and will, today emotions function independently. As knowledge finds its place in science, emotions come to seek their place in literature, music, and the visual arts as a way of seeking to realize their purposes. While it is true that art existed in the past, its value was judged only in terms of its functionality, as a subsidiary resource to help the development of intellectual, ethical, and religious behavior. However, this situation changed after the great spiritual revolution, the Renaissance, which occurred about five hundred years ago. The Renaissance helped emotions stand independently, on an equal footing with knowledge and will. In fact, today our desire to realize our emotions is greater than our desire to pursue knowledge and will. Literary arts are destined to fulfill those emotions, from which our fondness for wine, Eros, and natural beauty arise.