Literature or Not Literature

Seminar paper from the year 2003 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: A-, San Francisco State University (Ethnic Studies), course: Asian American Literature and the Arts, language: English, abstract: What is Literature ? According to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language,
the term Literature is defined as
"Imaginative or creative writing, especially of recognized artistic value: "Literature must be
an analysis of experience and a synthesis of the findings into a unity" (Rebecca West)."
The Collins English Dictionary describes it as
"written material such as poetry, novels, essays, etc., esp. works of imagination
characterized by excellence of style and expression and by themes of general or
enduring interest."
The emphasis in the first definition lies in the words "of recognized artistic value." However,
in my opinion, what makes literature in the sense of "printed material" Literature is not
necessarily the recognition of its artistic value. As far as the second definition is concerned,
"by excellence of style and expression and by themes of general or enduring interest" seems
of primary importance. In opposition to this view, I believe that neither excellence of style
and expression nor themes of general interest are necessarily characteristic for what should
be considered Literature. In my understanding, everything that addresses our emotions, that
makes us feel for one moment with a situation described is of "artistic value," and that things
that are not of general interest and may not excel in style and expression can still be equal
to the "Great Literature" recognized by the academic and literary world.
Critics have long considered Toshio Mori's work
"overly sentimental and poorly plotted [... and] full of grammatical errors." [...]