- In the Literary Theory by John Culler, in the first 10 pages of the chapter, I’d argue that the most important part of this whole chapter is that he never really gave a concrete answer as to what literature is. He mentioned multiple examples of literature and also talked about how people who are professionals in the field of literature find it difficult to come up with a definitive answer as to what literature, since it is so complex. It’s important to think about the definitions of literature because if we know more, we can teach more people what we’ve learned, and we can probably expand upon what we already have.
- The question I kept having as I read the text was “What is literature” I know there is no concrete answer but I was still thinking that and I would like to know one day
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Blog Post Prompt #1: What Is Literature and Does It Matter?
After reading Culler’s thoughts on the categorization and selection of what defines literature the biggest takeaway for me is that our definitions are often largely subjective. Whether this subjectivity is personal, characterized by the rules and status quo of society or both, defining literary works often means comparing them to our experiences with texts or materials that have already been deemed “literary” . To me Culler also asserts that works are often considered “literary” by the masses when they happen to follow qualities and conventions that have long been associated with other literary works. To me a good example he gave of this was the sentence “We dance round in a ring and suppose, but the secret sits in the middle and knows”. Since this sentence rhymes, and follows a rhythmic cadence that seems almost familiar, we are tempted to assume this is a poem of some sort. To me, the fact that we assume this is because of our experiences with similar pieces of text that follow similar conventions as well as the perceived rules of such texts that have been ingrained in us.
The question that stuck with me is “what is involved in treating things as literature in our culture?” This question reminded me of the famous question of “what is art” and how art is often subjective and usually requires context to be understood.
Hello everyone
Hello everyone!
My name is Karen Hernandez, my major is Secondary Education in Liberal Arts in Social Science and humanities. I have a 4 year old that started school this year and he was exited until he found out there is homework so here i am being a good role model for him.
i enjoy going to museums and learning about different cultures, events that happened way before I was even born. In the summer i got on road trips with my family to discover hidden rivers, lakes, waterfalls around New York, or new activities to do around nature.
Prompt 1
After reading the chapter 2, What is literature and does it matter? Jonathan Culler define literature in various ways. He says literature isn’t as it were the composed word, but it has a certain quality which makes it interesting and worthy of consideration. I think the most important aspect of this section of the chapter is that literature may have a few qualities that separate it from a personal history or any life situations for instance. It is important for thinking about the definitions of literature. I believe literature is a form of human expression. Culler believes that history has molded the definition in such a way that it applies to more shapes of writing than the fair story. Literature has its own ability to build on itself. He is also trying to inform us that the literature could be a discourse act or any textual occasion that obtain certain sorts of consideration. It is able to bring almost distinctive feelings and reflects human nature to learn a way to relate each other. So, Literature helps us to understand the detail of human experiences and to connect desires and emotion in a different way.
As I read this chapter I am stayed with one question that ” How does a set of texts that cultural arbiters recognize as belonging to literature.?
post#1
一 I learned some knowledge after reading the second chapter. For example, looking at literature depends on how you look at it and what you learned from it. Literature also has many characteristics like language organization and supplementary levels, separation from the real context, the fictional relationship of the world, and the headline that can be placed on the aesthetic function of language (33) is the correct literature.
At the same time, I also realize that both literary and non-literary works are worth studying because they all have points of inquiry that we can learn. It may not be very comprehensive to explore multiple aspects instead of blindly studying literature. So in short, literature can be understood as a model of historical intelligibility.
Through the following reading, I also found that literature can be understood in many ways:
1 is everything a contemporary society treats literature (22)
2 When language is separated from other contexts and other purposes, it can be interpreted as literature (though it must have some inherent qualities) (26)
3 Literature is to analyze a group and interpret the author may bring these texts (28)
4Literature is an institutional standard. It gives us reason to expect that our monthly result is worthwhile (28)
二 What I cannot help asking is, should we also explore if literary records or theories conflict with non-literary works? Because maybe literary record theory may not be comprehensive and true sometimes?
Introduction
Hi, everyone. my name is Tongxi Li. I came from China last year and I am currently having my second semester majoring in Environmental Science in LAGCC. I like listening to music and playing video games, the sport I love to play is table tennis. I had stopped studying for a while until I get a goal to chase. I think it is time to move forward and strength myself. I am glad to be here to grow strong with everyone, hope we can achieve our goal here.
Prompt #1 Responce.
If I were asked how I would define literature, I’d say it is a body of written work on a particular subject to reach out to certain audiences. In the article ” What Is Literature And Does It Matter” by Jonathan Culler, the author brought up some interesting points regarding how the ways people studied literature in the past and now are different. Different in how students study literary works, students used to just memorize and learn the grammatical structures of set books or written pieces. Whilst students now interpret readings for a better comprehension and to form their own opinions on it. By the end of reading a novel or article w’ed form thoughts and theories of our own to form discussions, I think that literature can be a domino effect to other forms of literature and that is one of the main reasons why literature matters. It is important to think about definitions of literature because you can learn to appreciate authors more, they have a way with words that makes you question the most simple things forming complex thought.
One question that stayed with me whilst reading Culler’s article is:
Can you really tell someone that their body of written work is not literature just because it wasn’t written in the way you’re accustomed to?
What is literature and does it matter
- After reading the chapter “what is literature and does it matter” written by Jonathan Culler, in my opinion, the most important aspect of this section is the diversity of the literature. As Culler talked about the weed story, “Weed are simply plants that gardeners don’t want to have growing in their gardens”(23). It indicates that which plants are weed depending on the gardener’s own preference. When differentiating literature and non-literature works, the standard also depends on a group’s preference. Thus, different people from difference culture background may have different opinions on determining whether a work is literature or non-literature. As a result, it makes literature varies from places to places, which form the diversity of literature. Besides, as Culler claimed, most of literature works seem to ” have more in common with works that aren’t usually called literature than they do with some other works recognized as literature”(21), which i believe is also one of the factors that makes literature diverse. From this chapter, i learned that even some texts can be treated as or changed into literature form. As literature is common in our daily lives, knowing about the definition of literature is important. It enables us to differentiate literature and non-literature.
- One question that stayed with me as i read this chapter is that “when reading a literature work, different people may have different opinions on its implicit meanings, which maybe not the same as the author aimed to express. Is it matter? Is there only one correct interpretation?
Blog post #1
What is Literature and does it Matter?
1. After reading “what is literature and does it matter?” By Jonathan Culler I learned that the important aspects of this chapter is that it highlights all sorts of text of literariness. It describes how different meaning is made and how pleasure is produced. Jonathan culler believes that history has shaped the definition in such a way that it applies to more forms of writing than just narrative and nonfiction, rather any piece of writing could be considered a literary work. I think it’s important to think about definitions of literature because you use it in everyday life. I believe it’s one of the ways we can reflect to human nature, learn and relate to others.
2. As i read this chapter I mostly was just thinking about how many times there was literariness in other subjects and i never saw it that way until today .
Woury’s Introduction
Hey everyone my name is Woury N William and I am a transfer student from SUNY Cobleskill. My major is in Social Science and Humanities, and I was drawn into this major because I find interest in sociology and learning more about myself and the people i’m surrounded by. My favorite hobbies are watching my favorite tv shows, spending time with close friends and recording videos for my youtube channel. I’m excited to learn new things in this class.
