What is Literature ?

Literature

What is Literature ?

 

Yes, of course things are same but our perspective is changed to see towards  it with time.With passing time , we grown up with more understanding and maturity. We learn today what we  learnt  yesterday was  wrong.  and I learn that from the literature. Literature- what does it mean? After passing these many years with literature, still it is not easy for me to define literature . But with  my confident, I would like to say that after studying literature in M.A , I am not same now.

Now I know that literature has no boundary. It can be anything.  There are many definitions of literature. It depends on readers and individualism. To understand and reading literature under the guidance of  Dr. Dilip Barad is precious  occurrence for me which I couldn't learn in my B.A. Though I was student of literature in my B.A, I never realised it because I was not taught how to read.

Literature is imaginative writing.  A kind of story that cannot be literally true. If it is true then it is fact, not fiction. It is man made,  not natural.

So, there is always clash between imaginative V/s Realistic,  Fiction V/s  Fact,  Historical truth V/s Artistic truth (Jodha Akbar,  "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag", Jesus and Mary Magdalene in Christian history and in The Da Vinci code , the list can be extended. ..) So, the question may arise that how to discriminate novels and news stories,  fact & fiction. Because comics and pulp fiction are purely imaginative & fictitious YET not literature.

 Another definition can be given is Literature is like organic body,  everything is interrelated deeply.

    Apart from just story- what is told,  'HOW' it is told is also very important. Literary techniques used by writers makes it perfect.  Epistolary technique,  stream of consciousness,  memory narrative etc are fine example of it.