Write
a detailed note on Nature of Literature.
Describe
the nature of literature.
Differentiate the literary, the everyday and scientific
uses of language.
Discuss ‘functionality’, ‘invention’ and ‘imagination’
as distinguishing traits of literature.
“The nature of literature emerges most clearly in
referential aspects.” – Discuss.
Introduction:-
The
first problem we face is about the subject matter of literary scholarship.
There are many questions, such as what is literature? What is not literature?
What is the nature of literature?
Literature
grows out of life, reacts upon life and is fed by life. Yet to define
literature is an extremely difficult task. The scope of literature is so vast
that it is impossible to reduce it to a formula.
Some
people define that ‘everything that is printed’ is literature. Edwin Green law
has said that ‘nothing related to the history of civilization is beyond our
reach. According to his theory and the practice of many scholars, literary
study is not only related to the history of civilization but it is identical
with it. Such study is literary only in the sense that they are printed or
written. This identification of literature with the history of civilization is
denial of specific field and specific methods of literary and study.
Literature – as the ‘limited to great books’:-
Another
way to define literature is to limit it to ‘great books’, which are ‘notable
for literary for and expression. Here the criterion is either aesthetic or
aesthetic combined with general intellectual distinction. Lyric poetry, drama,
and fiction are the examples of aesthetic worth. The other books are selected
for their intellectual worth and aesthetic value which include style,
composition and general force of presentation. This is a common way of
distinguishing or speaking of literature. It would that be correct to considers
only the great books as literature.
Literary History:-
Most
literary histories include treatment of philosophers, historians, theologian,
moralists, politicians and scientist. But in most literary histories these
thinkers are discussed fragmentarily and without the proper context.
The
study of isolated great books may be highly favourable for pedagogical
purposes. Within the history of imaginative literature, limitation to the great
books makes the continuity of literary tradition, the development of literary
genres and the nature of the literary process incomprehensible. Besides it
obscures the background of social, linguistic and other circumstances.
Imaginative Literature:-
The
term of ‘literature’ seems best if we limit it to the art of literature that is
to ‘imaginative literature’. Generally the word literature suggests written or
printed literature, but we have to include ‘oral’ literature too. In this sense
the German term ‘Wortkunst’ and the Russian term ‘Sloversnost’ have the
advantage over English word ‘Literature’.
There
is a simplest way of solving this problem. It is by distinguishing the use of
language in literature. Language is the material of literature as stone or
bronze is of sculpture, paints of pictures, and sounds of music. But language
is not an inert matter like stone, but a creation of man. It is thus charged
with the cultural heritage of linguistic group.
Distinction between of the uses of language:-
There
are distinctions between the literary, everyday and scientific use of language.
To define distinction between the everyday language and literary is not
satisfactory. The problem is crucial but simple in practice, because literature
has no medium of it own and many forms
of language exist in it.
Literature and Science language:-
It
is fairly to see difference between the language of science and the language of
literature. The mere contrast between ‘thought’ and ‘emotion’ or ‘feeling’ is
not sufficient. The ideal scientific language is denotative. It aims at one to
one correspondence, between sign and referent. This signs can be replaced by
similar signs. It is also transparent. Thus the scientific langue is easy to
understand because the one word gives on meaning only.
Literature and Connotative language:-
Compared
to scientific language, literary language is somewhat deficient. There are many
ambiguities in it. It is full of homonyms. Thus it is highly connotative.
Literary language is not only referential. It has its expressive side. It
conveys the tone and attitude of the speaker or writer. It also wants to
influence the attitude of the reader, persuade him and ultimately change him.
These distinctions may be made in different degree by various works of literary
art. For example, the sound pattern is more important in a lyric poem than in a
novel. The expressive element will be less in an ‘objective novel’. It may conceal
the attitude of the writer, than in a ‘personal lyric. In philosophical and
didactic poems and problem novels the language may be more intellectual like
the language of science.
Literary
language is involved in the historical structure of the language; It stresses
the awareness of the sign itself; it has its expressive and pragmatic (treating
things in a sensible and realistic way) side; All these aspect are missing in
scientific language.
Literature and Every
day language:-
Every
day language is not uniform. It includes colloquial language, the language of
commerce, official language, the language of religion, slang etc. Every day
language has also its expressive function. It is full of irrationalities, but
sometimes it aims at the precision of scientific description. It wants most
frequently to achieve results, influence action and attitude. We can not limit
it merely to communication. It is thus quantitatively that literary language is
to be differentiated from the varied uses of everyday. In the work of a
subjective poet, the language is used deliberatively and systematically. We can
see the ‘personality’ more coherent and all pervasive that of persons in
everyday situations. Poetic language organizes, tightens the resources of
everyday language and sometimes does violence to them, just to give us
awareness and attention. Every work of art imposes on order, an organization,
and a unity on its material.
Thus
the distinction between literary and everyday language is much clear. Genuine
poetry affects us more subtly. Art gives some kind of frame work and it is
different from the world of reality. It seems best to consider as literature
only work in which the aesthetic function is dominant.
Referential Aspects:-
The
nature of literature emerges most clearly under the referential aspect. The
centre of the art can be found in lyric, epic, drama etc. In all of them, the
reference is to a world of fiction – of imagination. The statements in a work
of art are not true. In a lyric the ‘I’ of the poet is fictional – dramatic. A
character in a novel differs from a historical figure or a figure in real life.
Time and space in a novel are not real. Even an apparently most realistic novel
is constructed according to artistic conventions.
Thus,
we must recognize ‘functionality’, ‘invention’ or ‘imagination’ as the
distinguishing trait of literature. This conception will include all kinds of
fiction.
Use of Image in Imaginative Literature:-
There
is a common misunderstanding about the use of image in imaginative and it
should be removed. Imaginative literature need not use images. Poetic language
may use imagery, but it is not essential to fictional statement and hence to
literature. There are many good poems, which are completely imageless. On the
description of a fictional character the writer may not suggest visual image at
all. We hardly can visualize any of Dostoyevsky’s or Henry James’s characters
while we learn to know their states, of mind, their motivations, evaluations, and
attitudes and desire completely. If we try to visualize every metaphor in
poetry, we may be confused.
We
have discussed the distinction between literature and non – literature. These
distinctions are ‘organization’, ‘personal expression’, ‘realization’ and ‘use
of the medium’, ‘lack of practical purpose’, and ‘functionality’. They are
restatements within a frame work of semantic analysis. Each of them describes
one aspects of the literature, but not all. Thus we can say that a literary
work of art is not a simple object. It is a highly complex organization.
Furthermore, the identity of ‘content’ and ‘form’ in literature is misleading.
These words are over-facile (easily obtained – so not highly valued.) They keep
us away to see a work in totality. A modern analysis of the work of the art has
to begin with complex questions: its mode of existence, its system of strata.
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