Literature, in its broadest sense, is everything that has ever been written. It includes comic books and pamphlets on potato bugs, as well as the novels of Mark Twain and the plays of William Shakespeare.
In a narrower sense, there are various kinds of “literatures.” For example, we may read literature written in a certain language, such as French literature. We speak of the literature of a period, such as literature of the 1800’s. We also refer to the literature of a subject, as in the literature of gardening.
Literature has two main divisions: fiction and nonfiction. Fiction is writing that an author creates from the imagination. Authors may include facts about real persons or events, but they combine these facts with imaginary situations. Most fiction is narrative writing, such as novels and short stories. Fiction also includes drama and poetry. Nonfiction is factual writing about real-life situations. The chief forms of nonfiction include the essay, history, biography, autobiography, and diary.
Enjoying literature
Why we read literature.
We all read for a variety of reasons. These reasons change with our age, our interest, and the literature we read. Our basic reason for reading is probably pleasure. We read literature mostly because we enjoy it.
Reading for pleasure may take various forms. We may read just to pass the time. We often read for information and knowledge. We find pleasure in learning about life in the Swiss Alps or on the Mississippi River. We find possible solutions to our problems when we meet people in books whose problems are like our own. Through literature, we sometimes understand situations we could not otherwise understand in real life.
We also read simply for the enjoyment we get from the arrangement of words. We can find pleasure even in nonsense syllables, just as children like the sound of “Ring Around the Rosie,” though they may not know what the words mean.
Judging literature.
Reading is such a personal activity that there can be no final rules for judging a piece of writing. The taste and fashion of the times often enter into critical judgments. Some books become best sellers overnight. But their popularity does not necessarily mean that they are great. Other works continue to be important for nonliterary reasons. Many students today read Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1851-1852) chiefly for its historical interest.
Yet, readers and critics do agree on certain writings that they consider classics, or literature of the highest rank. For example, thousands of stories have been published about young lovers whose parents disapproved of their romance. Most of these stories were soon forgotten. But for about 400 years, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet has been considered a classic story of young love.
Shakespeare used words and phrases that are packed with meaning. But, perhaps more important, Shakespeare gave Romeo and Juliet broad human values. These values were not limited to one place or to one time. The characters of the play seem to be real people who face real problems. They express feelings that people anywhere might have at any time.
For the same reasons, the works of a novelist such as Jane Austen mean a great deal to creative readers of any generation. Austen’s novels Pride and Prejudice (1813) and Emma (1816) express lasting truths and show the author’s writing skill. These books will probably appeal to readers during the 2000’s just as they did to readers in the 1800’s.
Every reader is a critic. Even when we say we have no opinion of a book, we are making a judgment. But such a judgment is probably a poor one, based on little thought. Our ability to judge literature intelligently develops as our reading broadens. Our critical skills, like our muscles, develop with use.
The elements of literature
Almost every literary work includes four elements: (1) characters; (2) plot; (3) theme, or statement; and (4) style. A good writer tries to balance these elements to create a unified work of art.
Characters.
Writers may want to describe actions or ideas. But they must also describe the characters—the persons or objects—affected by these actions and ideas. The characters make up the central interest of many dramas and novels, as well as biographies and autobiographies. Even a poem is concerned with characters. The speaker, or the poet, is often the main character of a poem. Writers must know their characters thoroughly and have a clear picture of each one’s looks, speech, and thoughts.
Motivation
means the reasons for a character’s actions. Writers must be sure that the motives of their characters are clear and logical. In literature, as in life, character determines action.
Setting
is the place in which a character’s story occurs. Literary characters, like the persons who read about them, do not exist alone in space. They act and react with one another. They also respond to the world in which they live. Setting is another way of showing people.
Plot
tells what happens to the characters in a story. A plot is built around a series of events that take place within a definite period. No rules exist for the order in which the events are presented.
A unified plot has a beginning, a middle, and an end. That is, an author leads us from somewhere (a character with a problem), through somewhere (the character facing the problem), to somewhere (the character overcoming or being overcome by the problem). In literary terms, we speak of a story having an exposition, a rising action, a climax, and a denouement, or outcome. The exposition gives the background and situation of the story. The rising action builds upon the given material. It creates suspense, or a reader’s desire to find out what happens next. The climax is the highest point of interest. The denouement ends the story.
Theme,
or statement, is the basic idea expressed by a work of literature. It develops from the interplay of character and plot. A theme may warn the reader to lead a better life or a different kind of life. It may declare that life is profitable or unprofitable, or that crime does or does not pay.
Serious writers strive to make their work an honest expression of sentiment, or true emotion. They avoid sentimentality, which means giving too much emphasis to emotion or pretending to feel an emotion. A writer of honest emotion does not have to tell the reader what to think about a story. A good story directs the reader to the author’s conclusion.
Style
is the way a writer uses words to create literature. It is one word following another, and one paragraph leading to the next. We can seldom enjoy a story’s characters or plot without enjoying the author’s style. The way writers write is part of what they have to say. From the first word to the last, a writer must solve problems of style by answering such questions as: “What kinds of words shall I use?” “How shall I present details?” “Should paragraphs be long or short?”
A writer’s point of view, or the way a story is presented, is another part of style. A writer may tell a story in the first person, using the pronoun I, as though the narrator were a major or minor character in it. Or, the writer may use the third person method, in which the narrator stands apart from the characters and describes the action using such pronouns as he and she. In the third person limited point of view, the narrator describes the events as a single character might see and hear them. In the third person omniscient, or all-knowing, point of view, the narrator reports on what several characters are thinking and feeling.
