Chapter 280: What Exactly Is Literature?

In many textbooks, it is believed that literature is a textual art created only by writers.

But this statement actually has a big problem.

After all, from the definition of logic, shouldn't it be that there is literature first, and then there are so-called writers?

Otherwise, how should the earliest batch of literary works be interpreted?

Besides that, take an example, for instance, the author of *The Diary of Anne Frank* was just a diary written by an ordinary 13-year-old Jewish girl.

If viewed in a strict sense, she doesn't count as a writer at all.

But her work was still published and bought and read by tens of millions of people, and made many people after World War II think deeply.

Can such a work not count as literature?

Therefore, in Akiwara Yuto's view, the so-called writer should be produced by attaching to literature, and this art of literature is not just monopolized and defined by writers.

If one still wants to persist in this point, one must change the interpretation of the term "writer."

After Akiwara Yuto expounded these words, many people in the audience showed thoughtful expressions.

In Japanese textbooks, the status of writers is raised very high, and even the standards of literature have risen with the tide.

But Akiwara Yuto today used the viewpoint of logic to refute this statement.

Akiwara Yuto saw everyone in the venue silent and continued to speak, "Then the question comes, if literature is not just mastered by writers, then what exactly is it?"

He didn't go down immediately but randomly called a female university student in the audience to stand up: "This student, have you written a diary?"

That female university student was stunned and then replied: "I have."

"Then do you think it counts as literature?"

She showed an embarrassed expression and spoke the truth: "It probably shouldn't count."

Akiwara Yuto laughed, "Many writers' diaries can be classified as literature, why do you think yours doesn't count?"

The female university student didn't know how to answer for a while, her face flushed red, and Akiwara Yuto waved his hand, letting her sit down.

"This student thinks her diary doesn't count, just because she feels her fame or writing style cannot be compared with those writers, but in my view, her diary can also count as literature."

"When reading her diary, we can understand everything happening around her, her life, and her emotional experiences; even if the writing style might not be outstanding enough, we can still peek into her inner world."

"Not only that, if her diary can be preserved for hundreds of years, can it provide rich historical material for the readers of that time?"

He cleared his throat, then looked around at everyone in the audience, and said with a powerful voice: "Such a notebook with such value, how can it not count as literature?"

This statement of his was actually vaguely combined with Marxist theory.

In Marxist literary theory, literature is also just a special ideology of production.

Whether it is a diary or an essay, it can reflect the organizational system, production mode, and exchange mode of a social era, and even people's thoughts and emotional ways.

So from the perspective of value, they should all be classified as a category of literature.

After Akiwara Yuto put forward this viewpoint, the whispering in the audience grew louder.

A girl's daily notes could count as literature; this statement had never been heard before.

And even the girl who had just been questioned was teased by others until she blushed.

Akiwara Yuto saw everyone's reaction and showed a satisfied smile.

Since his own diaries and essays could count as literature, he estimated that in the hearts of these students, they wouldn't feel that literature was so far away from them!

After waiting for 3 minutes, after the venue was quiet again, he continued: "Besides this point, we can talk about the future of literature."

He took out the black thick marker again and wrote "Traditional Literature," "Modern Literature," "Classical Literature," and "Popular Literature" on the writing board.

After finishing writing, he put down the pen, raised his head again, and said: "Everyone, which category of literature do you think can represent the future of the literary world?"

Different from the essence of literature just now, this question was very sensitive.

It involved the dispute between traditional literature and detective literature in the literary world, and even to a certain extent included the dispute between Western literature and Japanese literature.

Therefore, after Akiwara Yuto raised the question, the expressions of the association members sitting in the first two rows also changed.

Jin Shang showed a solemn expression, Qiushan Xiaozhi became thoughtful, and others also gathered their spirits more...

Akiwara Yuto glanced at them simply and then began to continue.

"Judging from the reading base in Japan, popular literature is now prevalent, such as detective fiction and romance, each occupying a considerable market. This is precisely because people increasingly want to talk easily and seek sensory stimulation."

"At the same time, the influence of foreign literature on us is also deepening; many young people don't even look at the works of local Japanese authors, thus only looking at Western literary works."

"If we look at it this way, modern literature and popular literature have already occupied an advantage relative to traditional literature and classical literature."

"But I think, even so, they still cannot represent the future!"

"In fact, there is no kind of literature of any theme that can represent all literature."

Akiwara Yuto said in a convinced tone, and this statement of his again made everyone in the venue confused.

Since modern literature and popular literature have already occupied the upper hand, why not think they can represent the future of literature?

However, some people vaguely heard his meaning and showed thoughtful expressions.

After Akiwara Yuto threw out this viewpoint, he began to explain again.

"Different literature is originally served for different reader ranges, just like our diaries and essays, which are served for ourselves and unspecified groups of people. Since that is the case, is there really any kind of literature that can serve everyone and represent everything?"

"This is clearly impossible!"

In Akiwara Yuto's view, the current dispute between the traditional literary world and detective literature is purely two groups of people whose brains are bubbling.

Clearly the reader audience is different, but they insist on distinguishing high and low for the so-called orthodoxy, proving that they are the national literature of Japan.

Looking at the facts, this is purely nonsense!

Just like the domestic situation in his past life, non-fiction literature written by reporters, internet literature written by internet writers, and problem report literature between news and essays—these are all nonsense problems that have to be taken out to explore whether they count as literature.

If we talk according to Marxist literary theory, these can all be classified as literature. But because of writing style and threshold problems, many of them are not recognized.

After being silent for a while, Akiwara Yuto gave his conclusion.

"Literature serves society, but literature also serves individuals. Since that is the case, literature is not in the hands of so-called writers, and at the same time, there is no literature that represents everything."

"More importantly, literature is in the hands of all of us; all the words we write that represent our own feelings, life, experiences, or thoughts can represent literature in a certain sense."

"So all the students in the venue, the distance between you and literature is closer than you think!"

His voice paused, and just then, warm applause erupted in the venue... ===== CHAPTER 281 =====