What is literature?

Well, this blog is also about literature, so let's start with it....

We are always told that it is necessary to read Literature, yes, with a capital "l." But what is literature? Have you ever tried to look up or create a definition of literature? Is any written production literature? Do we have to base our definition on the selling market? Is literature only what critics or experts define as literature? Is literature always published? Is there unpublished literature? Well, these are just some questions to think about.

Shakespeare or Cervantes are believed to be the WRITERS par excellence, but, according to whom? Yes, Shakespeare was famous when he wrote his plays, but what about Cervantes? He obtained post-humous glory. Does our definition have to be based on the parameters of each epoch? Then, if we change those parameters, do we have to ban literature written in the past and exclude it from the so-called canon? Yes, our canon....Our canon? My canon? Your canon? Who creates our Western Canon? Harold Bloom? James Joyce? Virginia Woolf? The multiple literary prizes worlwide? The Nobel Prize? WHAT OR WHO DEFINES MY CANON? WHAT OR WHO DEFINES YOURS? Think by yourselves and let me know your opinions....