1. What Is Literature?
P. Wall

2. Literature is VERBAL ART—
My answer:
Literature is VERBAL ART—
a performance in words.

3. As art, literature is thus in the same family as music, drama, cinema, dance, drawing, ceramics, painting, and other forms of art.

4. In fact, there is overlap.
For example, musical LYRICS (words) are part of its art.

5. What does literature DO?

6. Literature delights us by TRANSPORTING us from our ordinary surroundings to an imaginary world.

7. We are able to view the “real” world in a fresh way.

8. So does literature TEACH us?
Or is it merely ornamental writing?

9. The answer to this question depends on who you ask.

10. There are three theories of art:
The Imitative Theory
The Expressive Theory
The Affective Theory

11. The Imitative Theory.
The artist re-creates nature,
presenting it to us in a fresh way.

12. 2. The Expressive Theory.
The artist’s task is to express feelings.

13. 3. The Affective Theory.
The artist wants to communicate
feelings—and often these feelings
will lead to action.

14. Most likely, artists fall into all three camps.
Some artists are primarily imitative
Some artists are primarily expressive
Some artists are primarily affective

15. What do you think is the artistic purpose of the writers of the texts we’ll be reading in this class?