In the first 10 pages of the chapter, Culler outlines the importance of how we are able to define literature. He states that it is a very difficult question to answer and in many ways, there isn’t any singular answer. He also states that many pieces of works that wouldn’t usually be called literature could still tie to some aspects of what literary is. Culler says that literature comes in “all shapes and sizes.” These shapes and sizes can vary from poetry to depicting historical events. The essence of literature is particularly essential since many varieties of poetry are easily recognized due to their distinct structure and purpose. Literature creates an imaginary environment in which the reader is exposed to a complicated tale weaved together using many approaches. Literature is important because philosophy has increased the literariness of writings of all kinds. This is very important when thinking about definitions of literature because it broadens our knowledge deeper into how literary can be divided into. From past pieces of work to modern. But, again, literature has different meanings for different people bringing about, altogether, different perspective. So the question of what is literature can’t really be answered using a single word or sentence.

One question that stayed with me as I read this chapter is “what is literature then, since there isn’t a clear single answer?” As I continue reading the rest of the book, I think it will be clear that the answer is perspective. Many literary theorists have different answers of what literature can be and why it matters. And the answers can vary to how literary ties to poetry and historical pieces of event to rhetoric from how it comes in all shapes and sizes and even ties to pieces of work that wouldn’t usually be listed under the category of literary. There isn’t a clear answer of what literature can be listed under because it can be tied to all pieces of work. As theorists dig deeper into what literature is, one thing for sure is, that it broadens the literary “universe” and strengthens our thinking in a variety of things.

After reading the chapter What is literature and does it matter? By Jonathan Culler, he defines literature in many ways as well as when he said that “literature comes in all shapes and sizes, and most of them seem to have more in common with works that aren’t usually called literature”. Which means that literature is not only the words that are simply written but it has a separate quality which makes it different and valuable attention. One example of this can be the good literature ‘My  Love is like a red, red rose’ a poem by Robert Burns, and ‘Hamlet’ a play by William Shakespeare that distinguishes from songs, transcriptions of conversations, and autobiographies. Something that I learned was that literature helps you to do many things as well as write in a professional way and do a good job. Also, literature has the quality of encouraging creative thought that makes people educated to continue a life as a good professional and more important literature can help people understand and express their thoughts to everybody any time they feel like it. 

The question that stayed with me as I was reading this chapter was, Can people ignore literature?

I’ve always known the word “literature” to mean ” anything in relation to books, poems, and plays”. After reading and analyzing the short excerpt from Jonathan Culler, I can say the definition is a tad bit more complicated. Throughout the chapter, Culler goes on about how non-literary works can have components of a literary work, how different cultures can interpret literature in their own way, how certain texts can be considered literature while others cannot, etc. However, I found Culler’s comparison of literature to weeds to be the most important aspect of this chapter because it makes it easier for us to understand why this question needs to be asked, and more importantly, answered, in the first place.

What makes literature, literature? What makes a weed a weed? If I were to come up with my own example, I would say these ponderings are analogous to the question “what makes someone a cook?”. If I can scramble eggs and I know how to turn on an oven, does that make me a cook? Or do I have to know how to prepare an ossobuco and a gremolata, flute a mushroom, truss a chicken, and tourne a potato to be considered a cook? It’s when questions like these pop up that it becomes more apparent why finding the margins for the definition of “literature” is important, otherwise the guidelines would be too arbitrary to know when something is literary and when its not.

The question that I kept asking myself during the reading was if literature can ever truly have a solid definition. I know its a stretch – literature is an art form, and art is VERY open to interpretation – so how/when would an agreeable definition ever come to hold? Culler mentions this, that literature can have no solid definition because it is based on the observer’s own interpretations, analysis, questions, and reflections of the text. However, my question still stands

Literature is something that is posted and or talked about by different people. As you may have guessed or know some may think of it as a journal or maybe something that we could be doing which a blog , and it could be classified as a poem as many would do.

Literature can be transformed into many things to defined and help the reader to understand the purpose of the author’s method and logic of how he would want the readers to understand him/her . It may not be in everyone interest to like what ever the author speaks about but understand the topic  furthermore interested into the author and some of the other kinds of literature the author wrote or spoke about ,

It may not matter to other but it could matter to “you” about literature and what is the purpose of it and why people could be interested in it, which could be for many reasons. I would say depending on what type of literature and author’s that grab your attention literature could make a big difference to anyone.

What is literature and does it matter ? Jonathan cellular points out that literature is interesting to think that the definition of the world itself is not so easily pinned down. Many qualities of literature can be applied to outside subjects with relative ease. Culler mentions that it comes in all shapes and sizes and literature may have some qualities that differentiate it from autobiography or song for instance. literary apart from other forms of writing. The nature of literature is also important because of their unique structure and function many types of poetry are instantly recognizable. Literature creates a fictional world in which the reader is privy to complex narrative woven using different techniques. Literature matters because theory has heighted the literariness of texts of all sorts. The suspension of the demand for immediate intelligibility, reflection on the implications of means expression, and attention on the implications of means of expression and attention to how meaning is made and pleasure produced.

1. The most important aspect of this chapter I’ve gathered after reading the first 10 pages is that there are many ways to interpret what literature actually is, and how it is hard to define it. The author makes it clear that there are multiple interpretations and opinions on what literature can be and what counts as such. I believe the reason why the author brings this up is because he wants us to try and challenge our current views on literature and non literature so that we can gain a better understanding of the chapter overall.
2. Why does the author separate literature and non literature when it is all up to interpretation?

The chapter asks more than just “what is literature and does it matter?” The chapter breaks down the definition of literature and rebuilds it as something that is subjective to the time and culture that it is being consumed in. As a result, the context of the words becomes just as important as the level of attention the words seem to beg for. These definitions are important because what might not be considered literature today may very well be respected and dissected in college classrooms years down the line, it is important to have an open mind.

One question that stuck with me is, who is it that gets the final say on what is literature? Is it a group of literary scholars who come together and decide?

1.During the first ten pages of the chapter of the book, I’ve learned with literature there are many ways it can be categorized and there are many many definitions for it. To me the most important part of literature in the chapter is “ Treating texts as literature” (pg 23). Anything of the sort a play, a poem era story can be literature so in my opinion I think its amazing how anything can be literature like texts. literature is not tied down to one definition, it can be anything thing you read. 

2. The only question that kept coming to mind was “ why does literature have so many categories? “