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Literary and non-literary works

Literary and non-literary works. Compare: encyclopedia and short story Differences and similarities? The language, effect, information, story, facts? Is it literary or non-literary text?: eternal question BUT, is it still relevant?? . No, it is not. It is irrelevant (Culler)

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Literary and non-literary works

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  1. Literary and non-literary works • Compare: encyclopedia and short story • Differences and similarities? • The language, effect, information, story, facts? • Is it literary or non-literary text?: eternal question • BUT, is it still relevant??

  2. No, it is not. • It is irrelevant (Culler) • FIRST : Theoretical level requires interdisciplinary perspectives • SECOND : Such a division is NOT the main theme or issue in literary studies

  3. FIRST REASON (1) • Theory: mixture of philosophy, politics, history, psychology, etc. • Meaning: appreciating and interpreting literature involve more than one discipline • i.e. “images of women in the early twentieth century” will deal with literary texts and non-literary text.

  4. First Reason (2) • “images of women in the early twentieth century”: Virginia Woolf's writings or Freud's case histories or both • It does not mean that all text are the same but some are stronger, richer, more exemplary, more central, for some reasons • But, two kinds of texts can be learned and studied together and in the same way.

  5. Second reason (1) • There is “the literariness of non literary phenomena.” Meaning? • The nature of understanding histories has taken as a model of understanding a story. • Historians cannot predict, if A and B happens then C will happen, but rather, they show how an event leads to another event • Not why World War I broke out but “HOW”.

  6. Second reason (2) • Historical model of explanation ARE the logic of stories. • That is a way how a story shows how an event happens, is related to the previous situation, the development and the result in a way that makes sense. • History=literary narrative • Are both different, essentially??

  7. The importance of non-lit text • Theorists agree with the importance of non-literary text, e.g. Freud’s Psychoanalysis • Theorists would not disagree with the significance of literary devices (e.g. metaphor and symbolism) in non-literary text, such as: speech and a letter • The existence of literary qualities in non-literary fields indicates that “Literature is important and significant”

  8. So, what is Literature?? (1) • (1) A child’s and (2) a theorist’s questions? • Answer: • (1) Literature is prose, poetry and drama • (2) More complex: the questions might be: • On the object • What does it do? • What is the purpose? • How does it differ from other kinds of writings?

  9. What is literature?? (2) • There are no satisfying answers due to many different variables • Is Jane Eyre a novel or autobiography? Burns poems tends to be a folk songs, don’t they? The qualities of poetry are found in songs, conversation transcript, and autobiography. • Barnett: We should not debate literary definition, but read it to learn “some values of life”

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