Literary and non-literary works Compare: encyclopedia and short story Differences and similarities? The language, effect, information, story, facts? Is it literary or non-literary text?: eternal question BUT, is it still relevant??

No, it is not. It is irrelevant (Culler) FIRST : Theoretical level requires interdisciplinary perspectives SECOND : Such a division is NOT the main theme or issue in literary studies

FIRST REASON (1) Theory: mixture of philosophy, politics, history, psychology, etc. Meaning: appreciating and interpreting literature involve more than one discipline i.e. “images of women in the early twentieth century” will deal with literary texts and non-literary text.

First Reason (2) “images of women in the early twentieth century”: Virginia Woolf's writings or Freud's case histories or both It does not mean that all text are the same but some are stronger, richer, more exemplary, more central, for some reasons But, two kinds of texts can be learned and studied together and in the same way.

Second reason (1) There is “the literariness of non literary phenomena.” Meaning? The nature of understanding histories has taken as a model of understanding a story. Historians cannot predict, if A and B happens then C will happen, but rather, they show how an event leads to another event Not why World War I broke out but “HOW”.

Second reason (2) Historical model of explanation ARE the logic of stories. That is a way how a story shows how an event happens, is related to the previous situation, the development and the result in a way that makes sense. History=literary narrative Are both different, essentially??

The importance of non-lit text Theorists agree with the importance of non- literary text, e.g. Freud’s Psychoanalysis Theorists would not disagree with the significance of literary devices (e.g. metaphor and symbolism) in non-literary text, such as: speech and a letter The existence of literary qualities in non-literary fields indicates that “Literature is important and significant”

So, what is Literature?? (1) (1) A child’s and (2) a theorist’s questions? Answer: (1) Literature is prose, poetry and drama (2) More complex: the questions might be: (a)On the object (b)What does it do? (c)What is the purpose? (d)How does it differ from other kinds of writings?

What is literature?? (2) There are no satisfying answers due to many different variables Is Jane Eyre a novel or autobiography? Burns poems tends to be a folk songs, don’t they? The qualities of poetry are found in songs, conversation transcript, and autobiography. Barnett: We should not debate literary definition, but read it to learn “some values of life”