|
|
Post by Dodger Thirteen on Jun 7, 2011 19:35:29 GMT -5
Geez, I love being an English major so fucking much. Seconded with so much enthusiasm I may have just shattered the lightbulb in my lamp. |
|
|
|
Post by Marina on Jun 7, 2011 19:37:27 GMT -5
Fine, then I propose something else! How about you pick a book that you consider literature and a book you would argue isn't, and say why! Be it Harry Potter vs. Twilight! Or whatever else!
|
|
|
|
Post by Fuck Yeah Dion on Jun 7, 2011 19:49:31 GMT -5
Fine, then I propose something else! How about you pick a book that you consider literature and a book you would argue isn't, and say why! Be it Harry Potter vs. Twilight! Or whatever else! Ahh! I see this point brought up so often and I just don't get it. What makes Harry Potter literature and Twilight not literature? You don't have to answer that, of course, but I've literally heard this opinion about five or six times from other students in English classes. I really wanted to go the whole thread without offering a definition of my own, but since Dodger issued the challenge, I'll give it a shot. If there is such a thing a thing as literature, I'd say it'd have to be anything that exists in a manner beyond its aesthetic and utlizes language as its main mode of communication. |
|
|
|
Post by Marina on Jun 7, 2011 19:50:39 GMT -5
Can you name an example?
|
|
|
|
Post by Fuck Yeah Dion on Jun 7, 2011 19:52:45 GMT -5
Any book, poem, song, speech, script, play, etc. Basically anything that exists to be interpreted beyond itself and uses language.
This is super difficult.
|
|
|
|
Post by Dodger Thirteen on Jun 7, 2011 19:53:09 GMT -5
If there is such a thing a thing as literature, I'd say it'd have to be anything that exists in a manner beyond its aesthetic and utlizes language as its main mode of communication. But then we run into the issue of the phonebook again. It exists in a manner beyond its aesthetic (in order to provide a service, and yes I will argue that a phonebook is beautiful if you want to try that) and utilizes language in order to communicate said service, i.e. contact information for various individuals and companies in a given area. |
|
|
|
Post by Marina on Jun 7, 2011 19:55:37 GMT -5
The only reason I bring up Harry Potter vs. Twilight was because it was brought up in another thread and because it's one of the "debates" if you will.
The point is to state an opinion and defend it. Kind of like Dodger with the phone-book. For some reason we're all skittish about it.
|
|
|
|
Post by Marina on Jun 7, 2011 19:57:36 GMT -5
If there is such a thing a thing as literature, I'd say it'd have to be anything that exists in a manner beyond its aesthetic and utlizes language as its main mode of communication. But then we run into the issue of the phonebook again. It exists in a manner beyond its aesthetic (in order to provide a service, and yes I will argue that a phonebook is beautiful if you want to try that) and utilizes language in order to communicate said service, i.e. contact information for various individuals and companies in a given area. But some would say that the phone-book is becoming obsolete because of the internet, therefore failing the test of time. Many books that people name as literature are literature because they survive the "time" test. |
|
|
|
Post by Dodger Thirteen on Jun 7, 2011 20:01:42 GMT -5
But then we run into the issue of the phonebook again. It exists in a manner beyond its aesthetic (in order to provide a service, and yes I will argue that a phonebook is beautiful if you want to try that) and utilizes language in order to communicate said service, i.e. contact information for various individuals and companies in a given area. But some would say that the phone-book is becoming obsolete because of the internet, therefore failing the test of time. Many books that people name as literature are literature because they survive the "time" test. I myself usually employ that when arguing the definition of literature, so yes you are correct, though the phonebook is still not obsolete and, thus, still withstands the test of time (until such a point that it is rendered obsolete). That being said... The phonebook still exists on the internet, so are we now constricting the definition to only hard copies of various works? In which case, that would deny e-books (even those that mimic an existing piece determined to be "literature") the possibility of being literature. ...And I'm okay with that...*coughs lightly* |
|
|
|
Post by Marina on Jun 7, 2011 20:05:32 GMT -5
No one said that the written word had to be a printed word. If Hamlet was in the e-book form, does it lose it's literariness? Therefore my telephone time test argument is obsolete, lol.
Jonathan Culler, anyone?
|
|
|
|
Post by Dodger Thirteen on Jun 7, 2011 20:06:25 GMT -5
But some would say that the phone-book is becoming obsolete because of the internet, therefore failing the test of time. I'm referring to this statement here. |
|
|
|
Post by Marina on Jun 7, 2011 20:11:08 GMT -5
But some would say that the phone-book is becoming obsolete because of the internet, therefore failing the test of time. I'm referring to this statement here. Yeah... that's why I said my argument is no longer valid. |
|
|
|
Post by Dodger Thirteen on Jun 7, 2011 20:12:48 GMT -5
I'm referring to this statement here. Yeah... that's why I said my argument is no longer valid. Ah, I see. ...Then present a new one!  I'm having fun here, but if I get a bit too...enthusiastic, please alert me so that I can calm down a bit. |
|
|
|
Post by Marina on Jun 7, 2011 20:15:42 GMT -5
I feel like whenever it comes to butting heads it suddenly the two of us and everyone else hides, and we usually somehow end up agreeing with each other.
Okay, but then do we agree or disagree that literature has to be published in print? Or does it not matter now because of the internet and e-books?
|
|
|
|
Post by embonpoint on Jun 7, 2011 20:17:27 GMT -5
I don't think you can say that something stops being literature if it's 'published' online. That would mean that something could simultaneously be, and not be, literature, which surely makes no sense.
|
|
