Is every writing of any type or any form considered as literature? During the first ten pages of the second chapter of the book “Literature theory,” Jonathan Culler tries to expose what could, was, or would in the future be considered as literature. We explore thought history, that not every type of text were, at start, considered as such and that theorist have been trying to define common ground to this term without success. I believe literature should stay open-minded to any type of text, except the phonebook, of course! But a haiku ( Japanese poem of 5 lines) can be as moving as the best Agatha Christie novel. And it is what, for me, matter in literature: that the reading we have bring something to us: knowledge, emotion, sensations, evasions…

The question that stayed with me the most is, “What makes us (or some other society) treat something as literature?” (p.23). People have different tastes and opinions regarding reading. Books I have been forced to read at school considered as “ classic of literature” were not as interesting as “classical ones” I was discovering on my own time. Indeed, these books are forever in the history of literature due to their writing style, history, or, I guess, success. But tastes are not the same to everyone, and between “ the middle-class gentleman” from Moliere and “ the lord of the ring” from JR Tolkien, I would much more happily read the last one.

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