Defining literature?

[Yeroptok]

Sometimes I wonder what acctually defines literature. Is it the ability to stand the test of time, or is it just something written down with a deeper meaning?

Can lyrics be considered literature? What about works that are completely unknown? I can't seem to find a good definition on what literature really is, because in many ways a lot of things can be literature. One day the scribbles in my notebooks could become literature. Right now they really aren't but one day someone might find something in them that no one finds now.

I am just wondering what makes some writing on a page from mere words to literature.

[IWilKikU]

there are about 3 or 4 different threads on here right now that might help to answer your question. But even here on the forum there is a huge split in opinions on what is and isn't lit.

[star blue]

sometimes I wonder what they put in the bug juice.

sometimes it feels like the straw is slurping at the bottom of the cup.

sometimes I want to vomit.

[Stanislaw]

Blue needs a valium... but that is another story.

Any ways... I think literature is when a work means something to you personally, not just some form of entertainment, but something that sheds light on something for you, literature is really in the I of the beholder.

[hal9000]

Originally posted by Yeroptok
Sometimes I wonder what acctually defines literature. Is it the ability to stand the test of time, or is it just something written down with a deeper meaning?

Can lyrics be considered literature? What about works that are completely unknown? I can't seem to find a good definition on what literature really is, because in many ways a lot of things can be literature. One day the scribbles in my notebooks could become literature. Right now they really aren't but one day someone might find something in them that no one finds now.

I am just wondering what makes some writing on a page from mere words to literature.

Good question! Seems the answers would be enough to comprise a book if that hasn't already been done. But just for fun, let's start with a standard dictionary definition: "Creative writing of recognized artistic value," or, "the humanistic study of a body of literature."

Seems to me the crucial element in your question is to explore what is recognized as "artistic value" and why——that might take awhile.

Can lyrics be considered literature?

I would consider lyrics poetry within the world of literature.

What about works that are completely unknown?

All works known, were at one time unknown——and it is the cultural, social, and political forces that play a role in a particular work's publication: I think this is at the heart of the matter. Kafka, for example, was never published while alive. And if my memory serves me, Van Gough never sold a painting while alive. When artists die, some artists' work is invariably highlighted because their vision is beyond most of the artistic appreciating world.

One day the scribbles in my notebooks could become literature. Right now they really aren't but one day someone might find something in them that no one finds now.

How right you are! as memorialized in the lyrics of Paul Simon:

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made.
And the sign flashed out its warning,
In the words that it was forming.
And the signs said, The words of the prophets
are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls.
And whisper'd in the sounds of silence.

--The Sounds of Silence

I think all artistic expression is art-- even notebook doodling may be considered literature. The imposition of style and form is applied and superimposed by subjective values influenced by ephemeral trends or those excessively conventional and unimaginative provincial cultural mores having nothing to do with art, and everything to do with criticising or defining art. Art (including literature) is of the "Universal Mind" and knows no bounds.

[Castorp]

What do you think about this idea? In literature, the word is the experience. It is not a symbol of some external reality. The words on the page create the emotion in the reader. The art of the writer is to select the words that have internal rather than external significance.

[IrishCanadian]

I think that would constitute as a form or genre of lit. Seen strictly as literature compare (for your purpose Castorp) the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament to something like Mother Courage by Brecht. Each constitute as literature yet serve different purposes.
I think that hal9000 is correct. However, the word "literature" has so many modern implicatures as an adjective. When I see something like Bolt's A Man For All Seasons in the literature section I do not think twice-- but when I see an anthology of short stories from a local open literary compatition I wonder why it qualified to be literature. Indeed it is literature by hal's definition but the contemporary associations made with the word "literature" allow for a lot of subjective dissmisal.

[Castorp]

Good distinction, IrishCanadian. I was thinking of Proust and the startling revelations produced from the reader's own remembrance that are literally created by Proust's intricate sentences.

[BeingaBunny]

Literature is a word that you have to define for yourself. I think it is any writing that transcends its genre to become art. But what I think is good art is not what you think is good art.

Everyone, please define literature for yourself. Right here, right now.

This is about who we are.

[saggitariun]

literature is the mirror of the society .by this a poet can express his feelings n emotions in an ornamented way like
"it is raining "
a poet can say "the clouds are weeping".
but the fact is that the society reflects in the writings of the writer...the writer is the source of providing us the facts of his times.
or we may say
The body of written work produced by scholars or researchers in a given field: medical literature.

[dramasnot6]

must literature be of the written word? if it mirrors society can we include the visual and dramatic arts as literautre too? and what of crude, appaling pieces of wirting such as pornography? are those literature? i always thought literautre to carry a sophisticated tone, but then is it only written reflections of society that make up lit?no matter the content....
perhaps literature is writing containing perenial themes , so it lasts for times after the time it was written. hmmmmmm....
just something else to toss as eye of the beholder?

[Gromit]

Literature is anything that can be written with such indulgence that they never lift the pen/finger from page/keyboard. It is something that is remembered by at least the writer. if even the writer does not remember it, then it simply cannot be in their deepest thoughts, and will eventually rust away. But something that is remembered and becomes word art for years and years, that is pure literature.

[kelby_lake]

Literature is literally just text. If we're talking about Literature, I would say that it encompasses anything that is worthy of study. If there are worthwhile things to say about it (not that it's "bad" or "good"), it's literature.

[xtianfriborg13]

Interesting!

[TenderButtons]

I don't think this question is answerable. When asking this question, we can learn many interesting things about literature, but never get an actual answer. I think there are a lot of questions of this type, and it doesn't make the question less valuable.