Literature - a vague stab at understanding

[andrewducker]

One of the eternal free-floating arguments that can be guaranteed to pop up from time to time, along with "What does it all mean?" and "Freedom - how much is too much?" is the question "But is it Literature?" - a question that I've mostly managed to ignore except when it's pejoratively directed towards SF (with the implicit assumption that it is impossible to be both science fiction and literature at the same time).

My main reason for ignoring it has been that I haven't had any internal guide as to what 'Literature' was - as to whether there even _was_ a difference between high and low art, or whether the two terms were merely handy ways for critics to declare that their lofty tastes were implicitly superior to the tastes of the hoi polloi.

And then, in a throw away line at today's panel "Is the Centre of Science Fiction at its Margins?" (How have women's, queer and black voices reshaped our ideas of what science fiction is) Geoff Ryman summed it up perfectly when he said "Entertainment leaves the reader innocent."

And that, to me, was suddenly 'it'.  One can read any number of entertaining books (or watch any number of entertaining movies/TV shows) and still be left innocent - you've done nothing more than go "Wheeeee!" for an hour or two, frightened and exhilarated as if you'd just ridden the roller-coaster at Disney-World.  But literature goes further than that - it educates and enlightens.  It strips away our preconceptions, it illuminates our fantasies, it holds up a mirror and shows us what really look like.

Which isn't to say that there's anything wrong with excitement and adventure and really wild things; sometimes I just want to be entertained.  But I get something more from literature - I get a definite something from a book like (for instance) We Need to Talk About Kevin or Air that I don't get (for instance) from any number of other books - a feeling of resonance and of uncovering something about the human condition in general and myself in particular.

Comments

[ninox.livejournal.com]

The term that we would use is added value. But this is very much down to an individuals perception of a books contents. It is one of the greatest debates in cataloguing with no easy resolution. No matter how you define something there will always be cross overs with other genres. One person's experience and knowledge can add a twist to the interpretation and learning experiences from a book. Take a trashy Mills and Boon novel - no way would I give it any literary credit. But as an aid to information literacy it has it's place and many teenagers have formed their perceptions of romance from such books. In such an example the same Mills and Boon will educate, illuminate fantasies. Cringe!

I enjoy Paul Doherty as an author as he is generally well research and will include historical time lines and references to give reality to his work. I still wouldn't consider it anything more than interesting entertainment even though I may off gain knowledge of a particular era.

I would say your definition of literature is still too simplistic. I would still say the definition is one of the holy grails of the information industry. Let me know when you have discovered something more all encompassing.

[andrewducker]

I don't believe in all-encompassing ontologies. I think that all ontologies are inherently fragile, because they are based on human perception which is (a) flawed and (b) variable both from person to person and within a single person over time.

The Mills and Boon thing reminds me of something at a different panel - apparently Games Workshop have won literacy awards because their books make 14-20 year old boys read, a feat which is considered nigh-on impossible.

[ninox.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear on ontologies - but they keep people in research posts *manic grin*. But then again the same problems arise when trying to subdivide. Sometimes you just can't win.

Will have to keep the Games Workshop thing in mind I may opt to do an assignment on teenage literacy and reader development yet. I helped develop a collection of graphic novels in last library to encourage reading, but we had to wrestle them back from the adults.