What is Literature?

A text contains letters, words, punctuation marks, and a bunch of empty symbols. I am not talking about the linguistic background of the “writing” or “how meanings are created”. No, I am talking about what can make a text “literature”.

What is literature? Literature is about feelings, creativity, and genius. You can write anything, but if it is called literature, then it should create something. It should make a difference, change the world, or alter a person more than they were before. It should be sincere, discussing real feelings or thoughts, and it should change the flow. Literature is about putting your feelings and thoughts beautifully and aesthetically, leaving your marks on a page in a specific way. It is about beauty. If one wants to write, then one should pay attention to the beauty of it.

Literature has been a white men’s toy until this century, and it was either written for fun or education. The illiterate public couldn’t write or read, so only those who could read were the upper class and maybe the middle class. But in this century, anyone can write, and one can write about anything; the boundaries have changed significantly. Other than for fun or education, now writers use literature to convey their voices, discuss what isn’t said, write about minorities, and be a voice for the voiceless people.

Feminism and Marxism, for example, both used literature and conveyed thoughts through writing first. The ideas and the way they were written changed the world and people. So, one should be very careful about what they write since it will affect the world somehow. Also, writing is permanent, and history cannot erase it. What we write will shape the future; literature shapes the future. History will have been told through literature, and when they find out what is told, either they will be frustrated or proud.

Maybe today, no one pays much attention to literature, as reading and writing serve a different purpose, but still, we have our great writers, and we will continue to do amazing things with words. Literature will live longer than anyone; literature lives forever.