(Uece 2008)TEXT It is impossible to define the now

(Uece 2008)

TEXT

            It is impossible to define the now primary sense of literature precisely or to set rigid limits on its use. Literary treatment of a subject requires creative use of the imagination: something is constructed which is related to "real" experience, but is not of the same order. What has been created in language is known only through language, and the text does not give access to a reality other than itself. As a consequence, the texts that make up English literature are a part and a product of the English language and cannot be separated from it. Among the various ways of defining literature are to see it as an imitation of life, through assessing its effect on a reader, and by ¹ANALYZING its form.

            The imitation of life. Since at least the 4th century BC, when Aristotle described poetry as mimesis (imitation), literature has been widely regarded as an imitation of life. The mimetic theory was dominant for centuries, only falling into disfavor in the late 18th century with the rise of Romanticism, which took poetry to be essentially an expression of personal feeling. In the 20th century, however, the idea of mimesis was revived.

            Effect on the reader. ²READING literature is widely believed to develop ³UNDERSTANDING and ⁴FEELING, by complementing the primary experiences of life with a range of secondary encounters. Although the experience of literature is not the same as 'real' experience, it can have an influence that extends beyond the period of ⁵READING. The response is inward and does not necessarily lead to physical movement or social action, although texts written as scripture or propaganda may have such results. In the 5-4th centuries BC, Plato acknowledged the power of poetry, but distrusted its rhetorical effect and mythic quality. In the Phaedrus, he attacked the cultivation of persuasion rather than the investigation of truth and in the Republic argued that, in an ideal state, poets would have no educational role. Aristotle, however, thought that the catharsis or purgation experienced in witnessing a tragic drama was beneficial. Generally, like Aristotle, critics have attached importance to the ethical purpose of literature and the morally ⁶UPLIFTING value of 'the best' literature.

            Analyzing form. A reader is unlikely to respond with interest to the discovery that a textbook is written in continuous prose, with paragraphs and chapters. This is simply the accepted mode of referential writing. However, confrontation with a sonnet or the structure of a novel raises questions about the author's choice of form, a choice often related to contemporary fashion as well as individual intention. The literary writer imposes on language a more careful ordering than the choice of words and syntax that accompanies general communication.

            Traditionally, literary texts have been easy to identify: an ode or a play is 'literary', but a menu or a telephone directory is not. There is, however, an indeterminate area of essays, biographies, memoirs, history, philosophy, travel books, and other texts which may or may not be deemed literary. [...] Many texts appear therefore to have literary aspects combined with other qualities and purposes, and ultimately individual or consensual choice must decide which has priority. The word literature tends to be used with approval of works perceived as having artistic merit, the evaluation of which may depend on social and linguistic as well as aesthetic factors. If the criteria of quality become exacting, a canon may emerge, limited in its inclusions and exclusions, and the members of a society or group may be required (with various degrees of pressure and success) to accept that canon and no other.

            Literature is an exceptional area of language use, which many people have regarded as the highest service to which language can be put and the surest touchstone of good usage. Its creation is dependent on the resources available to the author in any period, but those resources may be enriched and increased by a literary tradition in which quotations from and allusions to 'the classics' abound and many words have literary nuances. In the 20th century, much attention has been given to the language of literature and the question of whether there is in fact distinctively literary language. Many features thought of as literary appear in common usage. Meter and formal rhythm derive from everyday speech, words often rhyme without conscious contrivance, multiple meaning and word associations are part of daily communication, and tropes and figures of speech are used in ordinary language. However, literary language shows a greater concentration of such features, deliberately arranged and controlled. Literary language makes us pause to consider, reread, and assess in a way that would destroy the flow of other modes of communication.

(From: McARTHUR, Tom (ed.). The Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.)

 

The sentence: "Since at least the 4th century BC, when Aristotle described poetry as mimesis (imitation), literature has been widely regarded as an imitation of life" contains a /an: