Objectives

1. Make a distinction between literature and

literary study;
2. Make a distinction between literary criterion
and literary history;
3. Make a distinction between the literary and
scientific uses of language and between
everyday language and literary language; and,
4. Discuss the functions of literature.
 Literary study
• Literature - creative; an art
• Literary study – is a specie of knowledge or of
learning
– A systematic and integrated study of
literature
– Literary scholarship – academic nature of
the study
– Philalogy – study of all products of human
kind
 Literary history, criticism and history

• Literature as a simultaneous order

• Literature which sees it primarily as a series of
works arranged in a chronological order and
as integral parts of the historical process
 Literary History
• Requires an effort of imagination, of empathy,
of deep congeniality with a past age or a
vanished taste.
• Successful efforts have been made to
reconstruct the general outlook on life, the
attitudes, conception, prejudices, and
underlying assumptions of many civilizations
 Literary History
• The attempt of historical reconstruction has
led to a great stress on the intention of the
author, which, it is supposed, can be studied in
the history of criticism and literary taste.
 Literary History
• It is usually assumed that if we can ascertain
this intention and can see that the author has
fulfilled it, the problem of criticism can be
disposed of and there is no need or even
possibly of further criticizing his work.
 The Nature of Literature
• What is literature? What is NOT literature?
– Distinguish the particular use made of language in
literature
• Language is the material of literature, a
creation of man and charged with the cultural
heritage of a linguistic group.