Fiction or Literature?

[Anonymous No.1517511]

Go into a bookstore, and you'll find novels shelved alphabetically by author's last name but divided into a number of categories: mystery, science fiction, romance. Each genre gets its own section, which is understandable, but then there are novels classified as Fiction and others as Literature. Whats the difference between the two?
My first guess was that to be Literature, the novel's author had to be dead.
That hypothesis was disproved the next time I checked the shelves. I looked up in the dictionary when I got home. Fiction was defined as "any literary work portraying imaginary characters and events, asa novel, story, or play," while literature included "all writings in prose or verse, especially those of an imaginative character, but especially those having excellence of form or permenant value."
So basically, Literature is classier then Fiction.
Still curious, I started asking people in the book business how they decided what was classy enough to be Literature. The semiseries consensus among the pros was, "If an editor has to look up three words while reading the manuscript, it's literature." The best answer I got was from my stepbrother Jack Provenzale, who doesn't sell books but is a passionate reader. He said, "Literature changes you. When you're done reading, you're a different person.
-Maria Doria Russel (Introduction to "A Canticle for Leibowtz.")

Okay /lit/ what do you define as Literature? Why don't you think Science Fiction or Fantasy can't be considered Literature?

pic semi related

[Anonymous No.1517514]

If anyone says tldr.....why the hell are you browsing the /lit/ board?

[Anonymous No.1517520]

Literature is meaningless. At least, it's an incredibly inexact term that has very little use. In a weak way, literature refers to work which is deeply relevant to the human condition, which is complex, multifaceted, and powerful - BUT this is so subjective a definition that it's basically useless as a descriptor.

And SF&F can be literature.

[Anonymous No.1517534]

If you're deserving of it (it's simply a genetic thing), a dim light will eminate from any text you pick up which is equal to the title of 'literature'. If you can't see the glow then you may as well be reading from the 'fiction' shelves. This is also highly convenient for reading in the dark.

[Anonymous No.1517547]

The definition of what is and what isn't literature depends on the personality and tastes of the individual. Or you could simply think of literature as the overarching world of the written word, not just fiction. Many people consider the "Critique of Pure Reason" as literature but it certainly isn't fiction.


Anyone who disregards entire genres as being simple pulp without looking for any deeper though should NEVER be taken seriously.

[Anonymous No.1517554]

>>1517534

Correct. If you haven't seen the light yet then you probably never will. I'm always confused as to why people born without the gift bother reading. Rumour has it that prodigious scholars even hear beatiful, ethereal voices sing to them if they pick up something "Really tops" (Barthes, 1958) like Milton or Dante.