Understanding 21st Century Literature

📋 Course Outline

1. Definition of Literature
2. Literature Students and Appreciation
3. Importance of Literature
4. Literary Standards
5. Why Study 21st Century Literature

📖 1. Definition of Literature

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Literature: Literature is a body of oral, written, or visual productions that uses imaginative language to realistically portray thought, emotion, and the human condition.
• Imaginative language: Imaginative or creative language is writing or expression that uses literary techniques and differs from direct, device-free language in non-literary texts.

📝 Essential Points

• Literature can include oral forms such as chants, riddles, myths, and urban legends, not only written works.
• News reports or journal articles use direct language that is devoid of literary techniques or devices, so they are treated as non-literary texts here.
• Literature can represent everyday realities of human interaction, and that representation becomes more meaningful because literature adds value, not just copies reality.

💡 Memory Hook

Direct language = reporting; imaginative language = crafting human experience.

📖 2. Literature Students and Appreciation

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions