Miker,
Reyour reactions to Stephen's point below:
"m-w.com's 1st definition makes sense to me: "writings in
prose or verse;
************ ***
"Yup. I'm familiar with the definition that includes
everything."
I could be wrong, but I suspect that was Stephen's
point.
All writing written to be read by the general public, whether
or not it actually turns out to be readable, whether or not
it is actually published, is literature.
Some of it is bad. Most of it is probably average. A bit of
it is good. A tiny bit falls into the category of "classic."
And no one can tell what will be classic until, in the course
of time, it turns out to be classic in retrospect.
People who use "literature" when they mean "classic," or at
least "good," are being deliberately dismissive of that which
they don't like or don't agree with, much like
fundamentalist, evangelical protestants who, when they use
"Christian," really mean only fundamentalist, evengelical
protestants.
The purpose of such usage is to diminish "the others" by
making the broad category much more exclusive than it's meant
to be. "This" isn't "real" literature.
"They" aren't "real" Christians. This isn't "really"
hard-boiled. That isn't "really" noir.
MORAL: Don't say "literature" when you mean
"classic."
JIM DOHERTY
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