Why Do We Read Literature Essay Sample free essay sample

First. Literature Defined:* â€Å"The creative activity of literature is a uniquely human activity. Born of man’s timeless desire to understand. express. and eventually portion experiences. † * Literature is â€Å"a concrete artefact — a narrative. a verse form. or a play† * â€Å"The medium of interlingual rendition. of class. is linguistic communication. the written and spoken word. † * â€Å"When we speak of literature. nevertheless. we have in head a particular sort of linguistic communication that differs from the ordinary discourse with which we conduct our day-to-day personal businesss. The term literature. . . refers to linguistic communication that is intentionally structured in such a manner as to hold identifiable artistic qualities. † 1. ) Reading for Vicarious Escape* Literature can offer â€Å"exciting narrations that can be read uncritically merely because they allow us to get away the jobs and duties of our mundane lives and to take part. nevertheless briefly. in a universe of experience that differs radically from our ain. We will write a custom essay sample on Why Do We Read Literature? Essay Sample or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page † * Examples: the undercover agent or detective narrative ; scientific discipline fiction ; historical novels * We read for the merriment of it. * â€Å"Many plants of literature. classics every bit good as paper-back book mush. last exactly because they win in temporarily detaching us from clip and topographic point and transporting us to some fanciful universe that we otherwise would neer cognize. † * â€Å"Although some people tend to see such a motivation as stripling or even philistine. the fact remains that literature flourishes. in portion at least. because of the freedom and get away it affords our imaginativeness. † * And for those plants which do non look like â€Å"escape. † we should inquire what they have that have led them to â€Å"survive† over clip! 2. ) Reading to Learn* â€Å"Literature offers the reader ‘knowledge’ in the signifier of information. . . information that at the clip is all the more absorbing because it is portion of the author’s re-created universe. † * â€Å"Literature read in this manner serves as a societal papers. giving us insight into the Torahs. imposts. establishments. attitudes. and values of the age in which it was written or in which it is set. † * Literature â€Å"broadens our cognition of the universe. [ However. ] non all of this ‘knowledge’ is peculiarly valuable ; and much of it will be disregarded rapidly. Some of it may. in fact. turn out to be misdirecting or even false. and as such must ever be checked and verified against other beginnings. † 3. ) Reading to Confront Experience* â€Å"One of the most compelling facets of literature is its relationship to human experience. Reading is an act of battle and engagement. It is besides. at the same time. an act of elucidation and find. Literature allows us. as possibly no other medium can. the opportunity to get the better of the restrictions of our ain subjectiveness and those restrictions imposed by sex. age. societal and economic status. and the times in which we live. Literary characters offer us immediate entree to a broad scope of human experiences we otherwise might neer cognize. As readers we observe these characters’ private every bit good as public lives. and go toilet to their innermost ideas. feelings. and motives. It is the really familiarity of this entree that explains why psychologists have traditionally found inventive literature a rich beginning for instance surveies to exemplify theories of personality and behaviour. † [ For illustration. the Oed ipal composite! ] * â€Å"The relationship between literature and experience. nevertheless. is a mutual one. Merely as literature allows us to take part in the experience of others. so excessively it has the power to form and change our attitudes and outlooks. To cognize why we identify with one character and non another may state us about the sort of individual we are or aspire to be. If we are sensitive and perceptive readers. we have much to larn from these brushs. which can enrich the quality and impact the way of our lives. though the precise effects of these brushs are impossible to foretell and will change from one reader to another. One grade of a ‘great’ work of literature is its ability to hold an consequence on the reader. In the same manner. it is this affectional power of fiction. play. and poesy that helps to explicate the endurance of those plants we regard as classics. [ Works ] survive as classics because they have offered coevalss of readers the chance to clear up and possibly even modify their positions of life and besides because they shed life on the comple xness and ambiguity of human being. including the reader’s ain. † 4. ) Reading for Aesthetic Pleasure* â€Å"Literature can besides be read for the sheer aesthetic pleasance we take in good workmanship of any sort. ‘A thing of beauty is a joy forever’ is a phrase the poet John Keats has given us ; well-ordered and happy words are one of the few signifiers of immortality. Despite its other utilizations. a verse form. a drama. or a novel is a self-contained work of art. with a definable and describable construction and texture: it can be approached and appreciated on footings that are unambiguously its ain. What distinguishes literature from other signifiers of artistic looks is its trust on construction and manner in linguistic communication. Sensitive and experient readers will react to happy words. though they many non be ab initio witting of precisely what they are reacting to. or why. When that response is a positive 1. we speak of our sense of pleasance or delectation. in much the same manner that we respond to a picture. a piece of sculpture. or a musical composing. If we push our enquiry farther and seek to analyse our response. we begin to travel in the way of literary unfavorable judgment. † On Literary Criticism:* â€Å"Rumor to the contrary. literary unfavorable judgment is non an exercising in human inventiveness that professors of English engage in for its ain interest. Neither is the word unfavorable judgment to be confused with the sort of negativity and mistake determination we sometimes encounter in acerb book reappraisals. The fact of the affair is that the more we learn about how to near a narrative. verse form. or drama. the greater our grasp of a genuinely great work becomes. and greater still the sense of pleasance and enjoyment we can deduce from it. Literary unfavorable judgment is nil more. or less. than an effort to clear up. explicate. and measure our experience with a given literary work. Properly understood and properly employed. literary unfavorable judgment allows us to raise and so reply. nevertheless tentatively. certain basic inquiries about an author’s accomplishment and about the ways in which he or she achieved it. It besides allows us to organize some judgements about the comparative virtue or quality of the work as a whole. † * â€Å"Like all organized Fieldss of academic survey. the survey of literature remainders on at least three cardinal premises that critics and readers must be willing to accept. * Literary unfavorable judgment. foremost of all. presupposes that a work of literary art contains certain important relationships and forms of significance that the reader-critic can retrieve and portion. Without such anterior understanding. of class. there can be no unfavorable judgment. for by definition there would be nil worthy of communicating. * Second. literary unfavorable judgment presupposes the ability of the reader-turned-critic to interpret his experience of the work into rational footings that can be communicated to and understood by others. * Third. literary unfavorable judgment presupposes that the critic’s experience of the work. one time organized and articulated. will be by and large compatible with the experience of other readers. This is non to connote that critics and other readers will ever see oculus to oculus. for of class they do non and neer will. It is to state that to be valid and valuable the critic’s reading of a work must harmonize. at least in a general manner. with what other intelligent readers over a sensible period of clip are willing to hold on and accept. † A Warning about Analysis:* â€Å"The analytical method. it should be noted. is merely one of a figure of attacks taken by critics in their geographic expedition and survey of literature. It is true that by concentrating our attending entirely on the literary work we run the hazard of minimising. or disregarding wholly. many other factors that might otherwise contribute to our apprehension. With the analytical method. for illustration. we tend to overlook * the author’s purpose in composing the work. * the relationship between the work and the author’s life and experience. * or the even broader relationship between the work and the historical civilization in which it was written and to which it was originally directed. * The analytical method besides tends to disregard the critical relationship of literature to human experience in general and to the reader’s ain experiences in peculiar. †