Englisch (Subject) / What is Literature? (Lesson)
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Definitions of Literature
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- Broad definiton of Literature everything that has been written down (all written manifestations of a culture)
- Narrow definition of literature definitions of literature and their problems
- Literature as imaginative writing: Fictionality fact / fiction distinction is problematic some fictional writing is not regarded as literature (comics, advertising in narrative form).
- Using language in peculiar ways: "Literariness" Formalist definition: literature=language that is aesthetically pleasing and that draws attention to itself. The term "literariness" expresses the idea that language is being foregrounded, meaning, that it draws attention to itself as a medium, and still creates the effect of "defamiliarisation." Amongst other linguistic phenomena, literariness can be achieved by metre, rhythm, imagery, unusual syntax, ambiguities Literature in this sense is a deviation from ordinary speech and defamiliarises the readers, so as to make them see things in a new light.
- Literature as non-pragmatic writing According to this view, literature has no immediate practical purpose, no ties to reality.
- Literature as "fine writing In this case, we apply some kind of value judgment to literature. The difficulties in defining the term "literature" can be considered analogous to the difficulties in defining the term "weed", which designates anything the gardener does not want to grow in his garden. If, however, what we call "literature" is based on value judgments, we may conclude that no essential definition of literature is possible.
- literary text ↔ world / reality: MIMETIC THEORIES Are interested in questions of representation or imitation (=mimesis). How well does a text represent external, historical or social reality? Art, according to such a view, is to hold “the mirror up to nature” (Hamlet).
- Literary text ↔ reader: PRAGMATIC THEORIES Assume that literature has a moral and social purpose Does the literary text achieve its pedagogic aims? Roman poet Horace summarised this view when he maintained that literature ought to instruct and delight (“prodesse et delectare”).
- Literary text ↔ author: EXPRESSIVE THEORIES Literary text ↔ author: EXPRESSIVE THEORIES Representatives of expressive theories focus on the author’s thoughts and feelings. Authorial intention is relevant to them. Poetry in particular is supposed to present the imaginative processes of the poet’s mind. A guiding question here is: is the literary expression sincere and genuine? Wordsworth quintessentially expressed this view by stating that poetry is “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”.
- Literary text only: OBJECTIVE THEORIES The text is seen as a purely aesthetic object, the work of art understood to be a world-in-itself. Author, reader, or context are irrelevant to the study of literature according to these theories. The motto for this approach is “l’art pour l’art” (“art for art’s sake”).
- Theories (Name 4) MIMETIC PRAGMATIC EXPRESSIVE OBJECTIVE