Aphorisms on Literature

What is literature? It seems to be something that, like porn, you can’t really define, but you know it when you see it.

There is a traditional and narrow definition of literature which insists that it be artistic, creative, not necessarily fictional, but at least imaginative. In this definition, the Adventures of Huck Finn is literature, and so is The Autobiography of Fredrick Douglass, but the Gettysberg address is not.

Language (L. lingua, “tongue”) is a system of spoken or written communication used by a particular group, typically consisting of words used within a regular grammatical and syntactic structure. Language is used for one purpose, and one purpose only: imitation.

An imitation (Gk. μίμησις, mimesis, “representation”) is an image, likeness, or reproduction in some manner of a thing. Not all imitations are language – paintings, sculptures, photographs, videos, and facial expressions are all examples of non-linguistic imitations – but all language is imitation. In this general sense, then, all language is poetry (Gk. ποίησις, poiesis, “making”), so that a professional in producing language is called a poet (“maker”).

Not all linguistic imitations are literary, which is to say that not all language is literary. A knowledge of tradition makes language literary. Tradition (L. trado, “to hand over”) is that which is handed down from one to another, or from generation to generation, generally for the sake of preserving beliefs, rules, customs, or the like. Non-literary language is therefore any writing or speech that is composed without an understanding of tradition and a consideration of one’s relationship to it.

Literature (L. littera, “letter”) is written or spoken imitation that demonstrates by the repetition and the transgression of formal conventions an acquaintance with a given tradition of writing or speaking.

A form (L. forma, “shape, configuration”) is the particular shape in which a thing exists – so a literary form is the particular shape in which an instance of linguistic imitation exists. A convention (L. con- “together” + venere, “to come”) is a standard pattern of behavior that enjoys general agreement or consent among a group. Thus, a formal convention in literature is a standard pattern in the shape of linguistic imitations which enjoys general agreement or consent among poets.

Repetition (re, “again” + petere, “to attack, demand”) is demanding and doing again that which has already been done before. Transgression (L. trans, “across” + gradi, “to step”) is stepping away from and not doing that which has already been done before. The repetition of a formal convention of literature is demanding and doing again that standard pattern in the shape of linguistic imitations which has already been done before and enjoys general agreement or consent among poets. The transgression of a formal convention of literature is stepping away from and not doing that standard pattern in the shape of linguistic imitations which has already been done before and enjoys general agreement or consent among poets.

A kind (OE cyn, “to produce, engender, beget”) is a class of things distinguished by attributes possessed in common. As such, a kind of literature is a distinct class of written or spoken imitations that demonstrate by the imitation and the transgression of formal conventions an acquaintance with a given tradition of writing. There are three kinds of literature – verse, drama, and prose.

Verse (L. vertere, “to turn”) is poetry written in the form of lines, so that one must turn from the end of one line to the beginning of the next to follow the poem.

Drama (Gk. δραn, dran, “to do”) is poetry that is written in the form of action, so that it must be performed by actors.

Prose (L. prosa, “straightforward”) is poetry written in the form of a straight line, so that not-turning from line to line is necessary to follow the poem.

In a general sense, all verse and all drama, by virtue of the unique form of each, is necessarily literature. That is, both verse and drama, as a necessary condition of their composition, demonstrate their acquaintance with a given tradition of writing or speaking. Prose writing may or may not be literature, depending upon how it signals (or doesn’t) its knowledge of tradition in other ways.