What is literature

1、What is literature?,Lecturer: Zhu Kunling 朱坤领 03/2007,What is literature?,We often read literature, but we rarely ask and answer this question. But we must know the major features of literature. Lets see some of its definitions.,Oxford Advanced Learners English-Chinese Dictionary (2001): Writings th

2、at are valued as works of art, esp. fiction, drama and poetry (as contrasted with technical books and journalism) 文学；文学作品,Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (2003): Books, plays, poems etc that people think are important and good 文学(作品),The English-Chinese Dictionary (Unabridged) (1993): 文学；

3、文学作品,新华词典（修订版，1994） 文学：社会意识形态之一。是以语言为手段形象地反映社会生活的一种艺术，包括诗歌、小说、散文、剧本等。,Esther Lombardi: What is literature? Why do we read it? Why is literature important? Literature is a term used to describe written or spoken material. Broadly speaking, it is used to describe anything from creative writing to more

4、 technical or scientific works, but the term is most commonly used to refer to works of the creative imagination, including works of poetry, drama, fiction, and nonfiction.,Literary works are:,-Written texts -marked by careful use of language, including features such as creative metaphors, well-turn

5、ed phrases, elegant syntax, rhyme, alliteration, meter -in a literary genre (poetry, prose fiction, or drama),-read aesthetically -intended by the author to be read aesthetically -contain many weak applicatures (deliberately open in interpretation) Jim Meyer (1997),The role of literature,赵炎秋:文学何为？(益

6、阳师专学报2001年02期) “讨论文学的作用应有个基本出发点：即这个作用是文学的本质作用，是文学对人与人类社会的作用，是人类需要的不可缺少的作用。从这个角度来看，目前流行的关于文学作用的三种主要看法，即寓教于乐说、情感说、颠覆语言说，便存在一定的问题。文学的主要作用有以下三点：它是人类掌握世界的一种方式；它凝集人类生活的片断；它是人类本质力量对象化的一个重要方面。”,Why do we read literature?,Esther Lombardi: Literature represents a language or a people: culture and tradition. B

7、ut, literature is more important than just a historical or cultural artifact. Literature introduces us to new worlds of experience. We learn about books and literature; we enjoy the comedies and the tragedies of poems, stories, and plays; and we may even grow and evolve through our literary journey

8、with books.,Ultimately, we may discover meaning in literature by looking at what the author says and how he/she says it. We may interpret the authors message. In academic circles, this decoding of the text is often carried out through the use of literary theory, using a mythological, sociological, psychological, historical, or other approach.,Whatever critical paradigm (批评的范式/样式) we use to discuss and analyze literature, there is still an artistic quality to the works. Lit