Literature is an important means for making sense of our lives, reflecting, reinforcing and constructing the norms and values we live by. It has prevailed in the midst of and in response to a fallen, often chaotic world.
Reading is the most intellectual activity humans can engage in. It is a process of comprehension and understanding and applies to every aspect of life. Humans need to decode in order to lead individual existences.
Literature refers to works of fiction, philosophy and history. Writings have shaped the foundation of our thoughts.
Dedicated readers are known to be more active, purposeful, evaluative, thoughtful, strategic, persistent and productive.
Literature, by definition, includes any and all written works.
In our current Internet age, the written word is more accessible and democratic than ever before.
The death of print has been much talked of over the past decade, precipitated by increased usage of tablets and smartphones. This electronic medium is cheaper and more universal. Book sales, as well as magazine and newspaper subscriptions have diminished, yet our appetite for information has grown larger and more powerful.
Major sources have adapted to this shift.
- Twitter has created something of its own literary form, offering the use of hash tags to help convey a message within 160 characters.
- Blogs have welcomed individual writers and organizations giving them the opportunity of free publication.
- Social media helps keep discussion flowing both around the world and around the clock.
- Online forums, which once belonged to a niche of dedicated computer enthusiasts, have been incorporated by most major news sites.
Why literature is important:
Stories are about communication. Reading and writing is an act of empathy, and an imagining of what it’s like to be somebody else. Critical and thoughtful reading provides tools to explain how one feels, understanding broken hearts, and helps us to connect to each other. In knowing what it’s like to be the people we read about, we learn about those who came before us – or live next to us.
The world of novels:
has given rise of science fiction, entangling the boundaries of modernism and post-modernism. Science fiction has been rising in all its glory, fighting against extinction.
Literature has changed with society. Authors address human questions in new ways and reconcile them with the ever-changing technology that surrounds us.
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