On Why Do We Read Literature???????????

I think we read great literature because it is spiritually uplifting and makes us realize we are not alone in our hopes and tribulations.

Or because we're bored. (Joking!)

What an interesting question! Why do we read litterature? I used to wonder this question when I was at high school. But now I feel that litterature is a part of my life althought my writting skill is not athigh level :). I can't imagine how life would be if there were no litterature.
Ceicil

A lot of "great literature" (ie. the 'classics') we read because someone in the government decided it was a good idea! It's a bit of a stupid system - make 14 year olds read something that they're not particularly interested in and put them off an author for life. I used to hate Dombey and Son, because I was made to study it for my GCSEs, and only recently re-read it. My opinion of it has definitely got better!
A lot of people also read 'great literature' because they think they should, and maybe they got caught out just having the books on their shelves by having someone ask about them!
Personally, I read because I enjoy it. I'm not going to start working my way through the approved canon just because I might seem less intellectualy if I don't! If I get something more out of it, that's a bonus. Equally, I see no reason to be ashamed if I occasionally like to spend an hour curled up with Harry Potter, or a Stephen King book, which some of the people on here will probably take instant exception to.
Don't get me wrong, I do like a lot of the canonised literature - I chose to study English literature both at A-level and degree level - but I also think some of it is over-rated. Robinson Crusoe, for example, bored me a lot.

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Originally Posted by el01ks

Don't get me wrong, I do like a lot of the canonised literature ... but I also think some of it is over-rated. Robinson Crusoe, for example, bored me a lot.

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I agree that some so-called classic literature is tripe. (I won't mention any examples for fear of insulting fans.) And I have never seen anything wrong with books that are meant to be read strictly for fun. Some of Graham Greene's best books were what he called his "entertainments." I read noir fiction for kicks -- Elmore Leonard, Jim Thompson, Raymond Chandler, etc.

Thanks for the warning about Robinson Crusoe.

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Originally Posted by starrwriter

Thanks for the warning about Robinson Crusoe.

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Lol, don't take my word for it! You might like it. I just found it hard to read, the style of writing was a bit heavy going, so I never got into the plot. Another book I had to read as part of a course, not choosing to read it because I wanted to. I think that always puts a bit of a damper on a first read of something, unless you like the author anyway.

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Originally Posted by litlenani

"the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” is wordsworth’s definition to literature. Literature is important because it offers new creative ways to interpret the world. We all perceive the physical world differently and assign different meanings to what we see and experience. When someone perceives order and meaning in what they see, they want to write down their perception, spontaneous overflow of powerful meaning, to communicate it to other people. What they write down is literature.



When we dip into the rich variety of novels, poems, and plays which constitute english literature, we are reading works which have lasted for generations, or centuries, and they have lasted because they are good. These works say something worth saying. Their beauty captures people’s attention and satisfies their souls. This beauty does not lie only on what is said, but how it is said????



Literature is part of our cultural heritage which is freely available to everyone, and which can enrich our lives in all kinds of ways. The works can be entertaining, beautiful, funny, or tragic. They convey profundity of thought, richness of emotion, and insight into character. They take us beyond or limited experience of life to show us the lives of other people at other times. They stir us intellectually and emotionally, and deepen our understanding of our history, our society, and our own individual lives.



We do not have to read far before we find that a writer has portrayed a character that is in some way like us, confronting life-experiences in some way like our own. And when we find ourselves caught up with the struggles of a character perhaps we are rehearsing the struggles to come in our own lives. And when we are moved by a poem, it can enrich us by putting words to feelings which had lain dormant for lack of a way of expressing them, or been long-forgotten in the daily round of the workplace, the supermarket, the traffic jam an the t.v news.



So, whether we choose to study it or to read it for pleasure, when we look back over our literature, we are looking back over incredible richness. Not just museum pieces, but living works which we can buy in bookshops, borrow from the library, or download from the internet and read it today, right now.









Resources:

1- http://www.english-literature.org/essays/studying.html

2- http://www.lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~mats...g-dickens.html

3- http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~natasha/316/whyreadlit.html

4- http://www.victorianweb.org/victoria...dickensov.html

5- http://garts.latech.edu/ahiggins/202...iterature.html






hope you like it . Tell me
nani

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is anything we read literature???????

is anything we read LITERATURE??? coz my english teachers always argue about it. Thnks in advance

I think that you pretty much nailed it. In some ways, you can't explain the need of literature in our lives.

I guess I'd say it's because stories use specific characters, events and choices in a way that helps human beings to understand and remember more general real-world truths about people, situation and conduct.

In other words, we understand reality better by immersing ourselves in made-up stuff than by living in reality itself.