The nature of literature

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The nature of literature

• INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE
• By Elisa

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• The word text ? related to textile ?fabric
• Words and sentences form a meaningful and
  coherent text.

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What is Literature?

• SOME DEFINITIONS
• Etymologically litteratura ? littera (letter)
• Written expression / anything written
• ?does not accommodate Oral tradition
• like Homers Illiad, Odyssey, Beowulf,
• legends

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• Literature is a form of art
• ?narrows its meaning, equates literature
• to works of imagination or creative
• writing

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FACT OR FICTION ?

• Are news reports always factual?
• Consider the book of Genesis
• Myths

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• A work which stands the test of time, whether or
  not it contains elements of literary texts (e.g.
  plot, character, tone, symbol, etc.)
• ? restricts literature to its function or
  cultural value.

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• A text that has certain peculiar qualities
• Base the notion that the world created in
  literary works must be as structured as the real
  world in which the author lives.
• It is the creation of these elements how they
  are used and in what context which determines
  whether a piece of writing is literature.

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• A work of literature is distinguished from other
  forms of writing by its peculiar aesthetic
  quality.
• A work of literature has an appealing aesthetic
  quality.
• Its chief purpose is to tell a story

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The Eagleby Alfred, Lord Tennyson

• He clasps the crag with crooked handsClose to
  the sun in lonely lands,Ringd with the azure
  world, he stands.
• The wrinkled sea beneath him crawlsHe watches
  from his mountain walls,And like a thunderbolt
  he falls.