NYU Literature Defining Literature in the Digital Age Questions – Question Description
I’m working on a literature writing question and need the explanation and answer to help me learn.
Interrogate these examples. Look at a few (3-4) of the 7 examples below and decide for yourself if you believe it is a work of literature (or not) and why. The second part of this question (the why) is the most important.
Example 1:
This Is Not a Small Voice by Sonia Sanchez – Poems | poets.org
Example 2:
https://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/1000/MA1898/en_US/iphone-11-pro-info.pdf
Example 3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNPLWFqmtRA
Example 4:
https://www.beyonce.com/album/lemonade-visual-album/lyrics/
Example 5:
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/470304?searchField=All&sortBy=Relevance&high=on&ao=on&showOnly=openAccess&ft=*&offset=0&rpp=20&pos=11
Example 6:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_fiction (the question is whether the Wikipedia article itself is literature)
Example 7:
https://www.boredpanda.com/creative-print-ads/?media_id=creative-print-ads-56
Writing prompt: After you’ve looked at some of the examples and made your decisions, think a bit more deeply about what those decisions mean. In a paragraph or two, respond to the following questions:
Were the criteria you used to define “literature” static (they didn’t change) or fluid (they changed depending on what you were reading/looking at)?
If static, what are your criteria? Who do you think should get to define the criteria we use to decide what is and what is not literature?
If fluid, can anything count as literature? Where, and how, would you draw the lines?
What do you think are the implications of this for someone taking a literature course?
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