Literature

Learning has wonderful paths. One always discovers something new that makes exciting and adventurous the road of learning one has undertaken. We’ve read Todorov, a franco-bulgarian philosopher, in his pursuit of the meaning of literature and its use.

The following is a quotation written by this author:

“The texts that I was reading- personal narratives, memoirs, historical works, testimonies, reflections, letters, anonymous texts from folklore- did not have, like literary works, the status of fiction, because they directly described lived experience. However, like literary works, they let me discover unknown dimensions of the world, they moved me profoundly, and they made me think” ( Todorov 16- 17)

Personally, I thought literature was “sophisticated” writing. Now, after reading and becoming more knowledgeable about literature, I can state there’s no unique definition for it. It enables us to interpret, to have our own representation of the written text and spoken speech, provoking a reaction an impact. For instance, there’s no need for literary works to be fictional, since personal and real experiences such as: memoirs, testimonies among others, can make an impact on us, therefore, as long as they are valuable texts, they will equal literature.



Todorov, Tzvetan. “What is Literature for?” Project Muse 38.1(2007): 13-32

“Tzvetan Todorov.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 13 March 2009. 3 April 2009