Introduction Of Literature According To Experts

DEFINITION OF LITERATURE It is very difficult to offer a precise definition of Literature, but we shall give a working definition of it in line with what we shall be studying. • Literature can be defined as ‘pieces of writing that are valued as works of art, especially novels, plays and poems’. • (Oxford Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary).

DEFINITION OF LITERATURE • “the body of written works produced in a particular language, country, or age, or the body of writings on a particular subject (scientific, art, etc.)” (Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus).

DEFINITION OF LITERATURE • Looking at the previous Dictionary definitions of Literature, we may define Literature generally as any body of written works that is written and produced in any country, language or age for a specific purpose such as information, education or entertainment to the reader, which can be fictional or non-fictional in nature. • However, in Literature in English as a subject, our main concern is on the first definition above.

And here, I have beberapa pengertian accoarding to experts :

1.      Henry van Dyke

“Literature consists of those writing which interpret the meanings of nature and life, in words of charm and power, touched with the personality of the author, in artistic forms of permanent interest.”

Reference:http://www.scribd.com/doc/27042357/LITERATURE

2.      Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (Muslim Scholar and Philosopher)

“Literature is the garment which one puts on what he says or writes so that it may appear more attractive.”

Reference: http://www.scribd.com/doc/27042357/LITERATURE

3.      Roman Jakobson (Russian Formalist)

“Literature is organized violence committed on ordinary speech”

Reference: http://www.scribd.com/doc/27042357/LITERATURE

4.      Ezra Pound

“Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree.”

Reference: http://www.scribd.com/doc/27042357/LITERATURE

5.      Salman Rushdie

"Literature is where I go to explore the highest and lowest places in human society and in the human spirit, where I hope to find not absolute truth but the truth of the tale, of the imagination and of the heart."

Reference: http://classiclit.about.com/od/basicsliteratureintro/a/aa_literaturequ.htm

6.     G. K. Chesterton

“Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity."

Reference: http://classiclit.about.com/od/basicsliteratureintro/a/aa_literaturequ.htm

7.      C. S. Lewis

"Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become."

Reference: http://classiclit.about.com/od/basicsliteratureintro/a/aa_literaturequ.htm

8.     Henry Miller

“Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.”

Reference: http://classiclit.about.com/od/basicsliteratureintro/a/aa_literaturequ.htm

9.     Alfred North Whitehead

"It is in literature that the concrete outlook of humanity receives its expression."

Reference: http://classiclit.about.com/od/basicsliteratureintro/a/aa_literaturequ.htm

10.   E.M. Forster

"What is wonderful about great literature is that it transforms the man who reads it towards the condition of the man who wrote."

Reference: http://classiclit.about.com/od/basicsliteratureintro/a/aa_literaturequ.htm