Definitions of literature

APPROACHES TO LITERATURE

The word literature is derived from the Latin word littera, meaning
letter. In that respect, literature should refer only to something written,
but that would not leave room for oral tradition. Therefore, literature is
divided into oral and written. In order for a written or oral work to be called
a literary work, it has to be a work of art. We do not study shopping lists as
literary works, for example. The term literature was first used in 19 th
century literary criticism and it applied to great books, the works of art
notable for their form and expression. Today, we divide literature in three
major categories: epic, lyric and drama.
In order for something to be studied as a literary work, it has to satisfy
certain criteria. First among them is the aesthetic criterion. A piece of
work has to possess the beauty of structure, style, composition, the way
language is used, etc. It is supposed to evoke the feeling of pleasure in the
reader. It does not have to be practical or useful, whatsoever.
The second criterion is intellectual distinction. Some literary works are
studied for the impact they have on their readers. Some of them do not
only influence a single reader, but some other writers or even the entire
generations of writers. They do have aesthetic value, but of a rather
narrow kind. An example of those works is Darwins The Origin of
Species.
The third criterion is the language of literary works. It is different from
the language of non-literary works in the way that the latter is supposed to
inform or teach. Its language signs are denotative (1:1 correspondence)
and transparent. In the language of the literary works, on the other hand,
the signs are not arbitrary and synonyms cannot be used to replace a word
because each word draws attention to itself and is used deliberately.
Every literary work is supposed to have the emotional impact on its
readers. Literature appeals to the emotions of the readers more than any
other type of writing. It communicates to us through the feelings. It can
encourage us to do extraordinary things or even overcome our deepest
fears.
Last, but not least, is the fictional nature of a literary work. Literary
works are the result of the creative imagination of the writer, even if we
consider historical novels. This fictional nature allows us to imagine things
that exist, but are not present, or things from the future and the past and
also allows us to imagine non-existing things.

Fictional nature of literary works continued

The very word fictional is derived from the Latin word fictus, the part
participle of the verb fingo, meaning to create, to invent. In Greek, the
word poetus means maker, creator, while the word drama derives
from the Greek word for deed, act, performance.
The facts presented in a literary work do not have the impact of being
true. While the lyric poetry is considered the most inventive of all the
forms, we have to bear in mind that the I of the poem should not be

mistaken with the I of the poet. Furthermore, this fictional nature allows
the space and time of the work not to be equal to the space and time of
reality. What is more, we are not introduced to every minute of our heros
life, but we get to see only slice of it important for our story.

APPROACHES TO LITERATURE

The literary work as a structure

The literary materials as aesthetically insensitive elements inquire beauty
only when the structure is imposed on them, meaning that they become
beautiful if they are well structured and that structure is the way in which
materials acquire aesthetic merit. The structure of a literary work is
consisted of its form and content. Literature studies relations between
different works, chapters, stanzas and other parts, how the ideas inside of
them are developed, the inner movements inside them, their topics, and
so on.

Intrinsic and extrinsic approach to literature

Every literary text is composed of text and context, which means that it
includes both textual and contextual elements.
Intrinsic approach to literature is concerned with textual elements. It
studies characters, thematic analysis, genres, versification, etc. and it
focuses exclusively on the elements found in the text, disregarding
external factors. This means that the readers have to approach the text
from within in order to interpret its elements.
Extrinsic approach, on the other hand, is involved with context in which
the text appears. It studies the influences and the external factors that
affected the work and it can be either narrow, concerned with personal
motives of the author, or extended, regarding some historical, political or
philosophical events that influenced the author.
Nowadays, most interpretations of literary works are the combination of
the two.

Studying literature: History of literature

The studies of literature can be divided into three major fields literary
theory, literary criticism and history of literature.
Literary theory studies the general principles in literature and does not
deal with specific works. It studies genres, literary devices, and some other
basic principles and criteria. Literary criticism, on the other hand, deals
with specific works. Its role is to interpret and evaluate a literary work, it
makes the work easier to understand and is closely related to history and
theory.

History of literature combines theory and criticism and gives a synthetic

view of certain works in chronological order. It deals with the historical
development of literature during a specific period or in a specific place. It
gives an overview of writers and their works and it speaks about
tendencies and movements. It also places a work into a socio-historical
and cultural context.

APPROACHES TO LITERATURE

So far, history of literature was divided on geographical principle. Based on

that, we can talk about history of national literature, comparative history
of literature and general history of literature.
History of national literature deals with the development of literature of a
specific nation from its beginnings. However, within this sub-type there are
some inconsistencies. If we talk, for example, about English literature, we
can interpret that term in two ways. Either we are referring to the
literature written in England, or we are referring to all the works of
literature written in English language, including American, Irish, Australian,
etc. writers.
Comparative history of literature, as its name says, studies various points
of comparison between one national literature and the other. It points out
their similarities and differences, talks about what is unique about each
and what is general and common among them.
General history of literature is also called the world literature. It tries to
create an overview of various national writers who contributed to world
literature in general, possessing certain features that transcendent
national limits. It teaches us to think out of the borders of our national
literature and keep in mind political and social movements that changed
the world through history. However, a problem with general literature is on
what criteria should the important representatives be separated from the
rest.