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I think the only postulate of literature, by which I mean an axiom, by which I mean something that must be self-evidently true and does not have to be proven, is that literature must have content a...
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#4: Attribution notice removed
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/31915 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/31915 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
I think the only postulate of literature, by which I mean an axiom, by which I mean something that must be self-evidently true and does not have to be **_proven,_** is that literature must have content and ideas that are given some positive value by some audience. Or it isn't literature. A grocery list is not literature, it is just writing a memorandum. As Mark says, we have many ideas about HOW to make content and ideas valuable to some audience, but in the end the fact that people got something out of it (entertainment, understanding or awareness) is what makes it literature instead of writing. It doesn't have to be for everybody, but it has to be valued by some as having been worth the time to read it.