1.After I read Jonathan Culler’s chapter on “What is literature and does it matter?,” the author gives a definition of literature,”Literature, is a speech act or textual event that elicits certain kinds of attention.” However, the definition is not very clear. In this chapter Culler refers to the difference between literature and non-literature, but there is no practical difference between the two to distinguish literature from non-literature. Because literature is defined subjectively, it depends on whether it is endowed with emotions and thoughts that transcend words and connect the author with the reader. I think defining literature is not necessary but it’s a positive thing.Because the distinction between literature is a subjective concept, masterpieces such as “Hamlet” “The Old Man and the Sea” must be called literature, but there are many more books or articles that fall somewhere between literature and non-literature.This can be controversial because everyone’s subjective impressions are different. So I don’t think it’s necessary to define literature. But when you want to read a good book, a literary book. We can look for it on a label. And when reading this book, as a reader, you can have a connection with an author you’ve never met before (who may have been far away from your country or left the world hundreds of years ago), so I think it’s a positive thing and a positive thing.

2.The question that stays with me as I read this chapter was,Is it true that when an article or a poem is defined as literature, its value is higher than that of non-literature? Is the “value” of literature imagined? Because the word does not change before and after it is defined as literature, but its value is changed.

  1.      Culler defines literature in many ways. After reading Culler’s “What is literature and does it matter?”, what stuck out with me the most was Culler stating that “ works of literature come in all shapes and sizes.” To me I think this is the most important aspect of this chapter because it properly defines that literature is not bound to one definition or one term. Literature comes in so many different “shapes” and it could sometimes be hard to distinguish between different kinds of literature. The author shows us this by comparing two forms of literature; Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, which resembles an autobiography and a poem by Robert Burns – ‘My love is like a red, red rose’ which isn’t like a Shakespearean poem.

      By drawing this inference the author is showcasing two different forms of literature and showing the readers that literature isn’t bound to a specific form of writing. Two completely different forms of writing can be put in the same category and still be classified as literature. It’s important to think of what the definition of literature is because we are surrounded by literature by it daily. There’s really not one specific way to define literature and we all have our own different interpretations of it, which only makes it much more important and unique. 

2.        The question that stayed with me while reading this chapter was what classifies a piece of writing as literature? Since there’s really no certain way a literature piece is written or written about a certain thing, how can you determine what is literature and what isn’t? 

1. After reading Chapter two of Jonathan Culler’s Literary Theory, the most important aspect of this section of the chapter is the definition of literature and how to define it. the author defines literature is not only the written word, but it is a speech act or textual event that makes it unique and worthy of attention. according to Culler, “literature is an institutional label that gives us reason to expect that the results of our reading efforts will be ‘worth it’”. the author defines literature is not only the written word, but it is a speech act or textual event that makes it unique and worthy of attention. the important for thinking about definitions of literature is literature has the ability to build on itself. literature encourages civility and education, as well as solitary study, it also encourages new avenues of thought which can lead to action. As a college student, I would say this student who studies literature and read for pleasure has a higher vocabulary, better reading comprehension, and better communication skills, such as writing ability which is the golden key to open the door of the new world.
2.  This question has been bothering me after reading this chapter: “why literature is so difficult to define?”

According to “What is literature and does it matter” from chapter 2 which written by Jonathan Culler, I have already had a bit of comprehension about literature. I think it is a vital way for us to grab more things from literature. literature plays an important role around us and it is presented in front of us through various forms such as plays, poetry and novels. Because as development of human society, language use is also upgrading today. Besides the same function of conveying information and knowledge as non-literary does, literature might reflect deeply meaningful issues towards humans through displaying a sense of art which deriving from delicate treatment of words. The expression variations involve rhetoric, grammar, structure and so on. Due to particularity or meaning of literature, it could get people’s attention to think hard about it and lead people to explore more unknown information. The process of thinking and researching benefit human development in linguistic ability which making words vivid and powerful and in logical thinking.

The question that stayed with me is “What factors we need to take into account before creating a literary work?”

After reading chapter 2 “what is literature and does it matter,”  Jonathan Culler doesn’t tell us what the definition of literature is, he just makes some examples in some aspects to make readers to know literature. I think the most important aspect of this section of the chapter is to understand literacy and non-literacy correctly. Reflection is a necessary factor in literature. Non-literacy is easy for people to understand, and not to ask questions. “But ‘thing’ in the phrase ‘a curious thing’ is not a physical object but something like a relation or aspect which doesn’t seem to exist in the same way that a stone or a house does”, it indicates that the writer describes the object vaguely that he writes, so that reader can not understand and point out what the object is. People are likely to get more information and want to know more,  they also are curious about implicit meanings of literature.

One question that stays with me is that “What is involved in treating things as literature in our culture?”

While reading chapter II what is Literature and Does it matter? By Jonathan Culler, I believe that the most important aspect is when Culler shows the distinction between literature and not-literary. I come to know that literature is not only the words that simply written but it has a separate quality which makes it different and valuable attention. Some of 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 and autobiographies.  And also I come to know how the content is very important, in the same way, it is important that how you write a work.  Even the literature has the quality of creating the fiction world, that takes the reader in the imaginary world to narrate the work done. Moreover, literature has the quality of encouraging creative thought that makes people politeness and educated. In addition, literature helps people understand their thoughts and how to express their thoughts in front of the world.

2.

After reading this chapter, only the Question that comes in my mind is what role literature can play in the real life of a person? Can we ignore the literature?