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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.
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
APPROACHES TO LITERATURE