Professional Documents
Culture Documents
By HariPriya
Archana Raja
Aayesha Ghanekar
Literature
What is Literature?
It is sometimes defined as anything written
However we can surely distinguish between literature in the sense of any writing and literature in the sense of of verbal works of art
Neo-representative theory conclusively encompasses most forms of art and most genres of literature as well
Art is anything that is about something Embraces even Duchamps Fountain represents a satirical look at classical sculpture
Discussion:
How can we say if an emotion is sincere or not? -We just cannot!
An expressionist painting by Edvard Munch : "The Scream" Munch described his inspiration for the image thus: "I was walking along a path with two friendsthe sun was setting suddenly the sky turned blood redI paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fencethere was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the citymy friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxietyand I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature."
It also insists that the main aim is not to induce a temporary emotional state, but to induce an emotional state that will lead to some kind of action
Finally as Ezekiel Phalele says , the best poetry is one, that has a memorable expression of revolutionary passion and ideas
Among the books that Gandhi read, the two that affected him deeply were The Bhagavad Gita and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience by Thoreau
Tentative Conclusions
Back to the opening question : What is Literature? The simple truth is that there is no satisfactory answer ! But it is possible for us to say that works of art: Give an insight into reality ( as the imitative theory holds)
We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write
poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?