DEFINITION OF LITERATURE

From Feisal Adi Candra

English education majors
3rd Semester
to fulfill the task of introduction to literature
lecturer : Anisa Awaliyyah,S.S. M.Pd

Etymologically, The Latin Word Litterature si Derivered From littera (Letter),

Which is Smallest Element of alphabetical writing. The word Text is related to Textile and
can be translated as Fabric : just as single threads from fabric, so words and sentences
form a meaningful and coherent beside that literature is first and foremost humankinds entire
body of writing; after that it is the body of writing belonging to given language or people,
then its individual pieces of writing.
But already it is necessary to qualify these statements. To use the word writing when
describing literature is itself misleading, for one may speak of oral literature or the
literature of preliterate peoples. The art of literature is not reducible to the words on the
page; they are there solely because of the craft of writing. As an art, literature might be
described as the organization of words to give pleasure. Yet through words literature elevates
and transforms experience beyond mere pleasure. Literature also functions more broadly in
society as a means of both criticizing and affirming cultural values.
Whereas According as Salman Rushdie , Literature is where I go to explore the
highest and lowest places in human society and in the human spirit, where I hope to find not
absolute truth but the truth of the tale, of the imagination and of the heart." So the literarature
from salman is a low and high place in man that there is only a truth of the story, imagination
and heart. this refers to the virtual world that exist in the realm of human thought
Other than that there are some experts who suggested about the literature
1. According to Oscar Wilde ,Literature always anticipates life. It does not copy it, but
moulds it to its purpose
2. According to G. K. Chesterton ,Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity
3. According to Virginia Woolf , Literature is strewn with the wreckage of those who
have minded beyond reason the opinion of others.
Of the three experts above, it can be concluded that the literature is a luxurious and
valuable item, and created from original thinking that is able to anticipate life and shape it
according to purpose.
Reference

Klarer Mario ,An introduction of literary studies,Taylor and Francis e-Library, New York
2005
https://www.thoughtco.com
https://www.britannica.com/art/literature