What is literature?

Que.: What is literature? What makes literature ‘literature’ in true sense? What is relationship
between literature and life?

WH Hudson’s tome, An Introduction to the Study of Literature, is a primary and significant work
that defines literature and makes students of literature aware of how they should study literature.
The very opening of first chapter, entitled as “Some Ways of Studying Literature” draws boundary
line between the books of literature in literary sense and books which cannot be regarded as
literature and defines literature.

Hudson says that the word literature is loosely used in everyday communication. In common sense,
literature means whatever that is written or printed. It is really difficult to differentiate literature
from mere documents. There are some books such as railway guide or manual of cookery which
provides the information about some specific subjects, whereas some books like The Paradise
Lost or Sartor and Resartus appeals to our heart. He says that the critic like Charles Lamb does
not consider works of Hume, Gibbon, and, Josephus as literature, whereas the critic like Hallam
considers even the books of theology or medicine as literature. So there is no concrete criterion for
making true literature different from mere writings.

Having confronted this difficulty, Hudson gives three criteria that make literature ‘literature’ in
true sense. These three features are:

1. General Human Interest

This refers to the portrayal of essential human experiences magnetizing all irrespective of time,
age, and place. The work of literature does not appeal to particular mass of the people of particular
era, but touches the hearts of all from whatever corner of the world. A work of literature is not
gender-biased or time bound; it appeals to young and old, literate or illiterate. Thus a work of
literature always has subject-matter of general human interest, where as mere writing is useful to
particular group of the people and is always time bound.

2. Element of Form

Hudson is of the opinion that element of form is an essential factor that constitutes literature. Mere
writing does have particular form but this type of form does not provide artistic pleasure, whereas
form of literary work pleases the hearts of readers. In poetic form the use of rhyming schemes,
meters and figurative language makes reading pleasant. Form of literary work changes from writer
to writer (except fourteen lines of sonnet), on other hand mere writing has fixed format. Thus a
work of literature has element of form which imparts pleasure.

3. Aesthetic Pleasure

The word ‘aesthetic’ denotes: a. innovative, complex use of language and form, b. artistic unity, c.
use of literary techniques, and, d. lack of obvious political content. A work of literature is mostly
created on the precept of “art for art’s sake” – which means art does not have to serve any function
 except giving pleasure. Literature’s primary function is to give pleasure, whereas a mere piece of
writing aims at providing information. Aesthetic pleasure is hallmark of good literature.

Thus, Hudson makes it clear that these three factors make literature, ‘literature’. He rightly says,
“Literature is composed of those, and those books only, which, in the first place, by the reason
of their subject-matter and their mode of treating it, are of general human interest.” On the basis
of these criteria, he defines literature in this way –

“Literature is the vital records of what men have seen in life, what they have experienced of it,
what they have thought and felt about these aspects of it which have the most immediate and
enduring interest for all of us. It is thus fundamentally an expression of life through the medium
of language.” (p. 10)

This definition of literature makes relationship between literature and life clear. Hudson says, “A
great books grows directly out of life; in reading it we are brought into large, close, and fresh
relations with life; and in that fact lies the final explanation of its power.” Literature comes out
of human life; it reflects the life of the era in which it is produced. Literature is nothing else but an
important record of what men have perceived in the world. In literature, the writer artistically
reports his experiences of life; he gives words to those interesting incidents of life which have
general human interest. Literature is an artistic expression of the best that is known and thought in
the world. It is a record of man’s dreams and ideals, his failures and achievements, his
disappointments and pleasures; his motives and passions, and, his experiences and observations.
As literature is product of life, while reading it we are brought in large, close, and, fresh revelation
of most enduring aspects of life.

To conclude, we can say that Hudson believes that literature is literary product of life. Thus, in the
opening of the first chapter, he defines literature, gives concrete criteria that make literature and
finally he convinces us to believe that there is direct relation between literature and life.

Impulses behind Literature

What are the impulses behind literature?

Literature grows directly out of life, so it is oblivious that in life itself we have to search for its
sources. Hudson, in “Some Ways of Studying Literature”, discusses four major impulses that have
given birth to the various forms of literary expression. The four impulses that Hudson talks about
are:
1. Our Desire for Self-expression:

Hudson says that, “we are strongly impelled to confide to others what we think and feel.” All of
us have a natural desire to express ourselves. We always want to open our heart to others. We wish
to express our feelings and thoughts to others. This desire for self-expression results into the
production of literature. A piece of literature is expression of writer’s mind and heart, his emotions
and ideas. Thus our desire for self-expression is the first and primary impulses that give birth to
literature.
2. Our Interest in People and their doings:

“We are intensely interested in men and women, their lives, motives, passions, relationships”,
admits Hudson. Our interest in the lives of other people and their doing gives birth to literature.
As human beings we cannot live quite aloof from others. We always like to know about other
people, their thoughts, their feelings, their problems, and, their resistance to certain problems, their
achievements and limitations, and, their success and failure. In order to know other people, their
thoughts, the ways of their life, and, their customs and lives, we read-write literature.

3. Our Interest in World of Reality and Imagination:

The two reasons that stimulate the production of literature are: man’s interest in the world of reality
and man’s escape from the world of reality to world of imagination. As a man, we are always
interested in what is going on around us, what is happening around us. As a man of thoughts also
we are eager to now the things around us, the realities of the world. Our interest in this world of
realities results into the production of literature.

Many a times, man is fed up with the world of realities. He wants to escape into the world of
imagination where he experiences mental bliss. Man creates his own world, the world of
imagination and lives a peaceful life away from the world of bitter realities. The world of fantasy
and fancy makes our life better than real world. This also results into the production of literature.
The world’s great literatures are the mix product of world of realities and imagination.

4. Our Love for Form as Form:

Hudson believes, “we take special satisfaction in the mere shaping of expression into forms of
beauty.” Man, by his nature, is unable to keep his experience, observations, emotions, ideas,
fancies, to himself, but he is on the contrary under the stress of constant desire of expressing these
to other and for that he chooses various channels of expression. Man is also fond of particular form
of literature. And many a times, his love for particular form results in the production of literature.

To sum up, we can say that these four impulses give birth to literature. It is natural that all these
impulses merge together in a good literary work, when we try to express ourselves.

Themes and Classification of Literature

What are the subjects, purposes, or, themes of literature? How does Hudson classify them in the
first chapter?

Hudson’s An Introduction to the Study of Literature is an interesting guide for the beginners of
literature. He does not simply define the literature in first chapter but also classifies literature
theme-wise and content-wise. He says that literature comes out of life, hence life is the primary
theme of literature, but later he confirms five themes of literature.

Various Themes of Literature

There are various themes of literature. The five broad themes of literature, according to Hudson,
are:
1. The Personal Experiences of Individuals as Individuals:

This includes the things which make up the sum-total of the writer’s personal life. It suggests that
literature deals with the personal thoughts, ideas, experience, problems and achievements of
writer’s life. Literature is an expression of writer’s personal life as well. Whatever experience man
is having as individual, he reports all these experiences in literature with enough sincerity.

2. The Experience of Man as Man:

Some experiences of man as man are always the same, such as, the great common questions of life
and death, sin and destiny, God and man’s relation to God, and, the general fate of human race.
Literature deals with all these aspects of man’s life as man. In this way, these form one of the
major themes of literature.

3. The Relations of Individual with entire Social World:

The relation of individual with his fellows, or entire social world, also forms an essential theme of
literature. Literature, in fact, is revelation of man’s relation with the whole world, his response to
the society and his problems with the world. How man acts or reacts to the world that literature
shows us.

4. The External world of Nature and our relation to it:

Man lives in lap of nature. Nature has a great importance in life of man. Man cannot think of his
own existence without nature. Nature is a good friend of man. And hence, it is for sure that nature
finds expression in all activities of man, including literature. In literature, we find expression of
writer’s love of nature and the relation of human with it.

5. Man’s effort to create and express under the various forms of literature and art:

Man, by his nature, is unable to keep his experience, observations, emotions, ideas, fancies, to
himself, but he is on the contrary under the stress of constant desire of expressing these to other
and for that he chooses various channels of expression. Thus man’s own effort to create and
express under the various forms of literature and art forms this theme of literature.

Followed by these five themes of literature, Hudson discusses “five classes of production.” These
five classes are the theme-based classifications of literature. They are:

1. The literature of purely personal experience.

2. The literature of common life of man as man.
3. The literature of the social world under all its aspects.
4. The literature which treats nature.
5. The literature which treats of literature and art.

The second type of classification which Hudson suggests is the content-based classification. Here
he classifies literature into three groups. They are:

1. Personal literature
 Personal literature is literature of self-expression. It includes the different kinds of lyric of poetry,
the poetry of meditation and argument, and, elegy. It also includes the essay, treatise, and criticism,
written from personal point of view.

2. Objective literature

Objective literature means literature which deals objectively with life of other people. This
includes history and biography, the ballad and epic, the romance in verse and prose, the story in
verse and prose, and, novel and drama.

3. Descriptive literature

This is not an important division as above mentioned two groups may include this. However
Hudson says that it includes book of travel and descriptive essays and poems.

To conclude, we can say that Hudson suggest us the theme-based and the content-based
classification of literature in the first chapter.

Elements of Literature
What are the elements of literature?

Hudson discusses the two major groups of elements: (a) elements furnished by life, and, (b)
elements furnished by the author. As literature is the product of life, the raw material for any piece
of literature – poetry, novel, essay, drama – is always furnished by the life. There are certain
elements contributed by the author himself. These elements turn such into form of literary art.
These elements may roughly be tabulated under the four heads:

1. Intellectual Element:

This is a noteworthy element which gives logicality to the writer’s work. The intellectual aspect
of the work makes it more appealing to the readers. The intellectual element consists of the thought
which the writer brings to bear upon his subject and which he expresses in his work.

2. Emotional Element:

Emotional element is the capacity of arousing the feeling (of whatever kind) which subject arouses
in him, and which in turn the writer desires to stimulate in the readers. The emotional element
deals with feeling, sentiments, passion, and, excitement of human life. The most of literary works
are the result of the emotional aspects of the writers.

3. Element of Imagination:

Element of imagination also includes the lighter form of it to which we call fancy. Imagination is
the faculty of strong and intense vision and by using this element the writer also quickens the
similar power of vision in the readers.
4. Technical Element:

The above mentioned three elements together furnish the substance and life of literature. However
fresh and strong the intellectual, emotional and imaginative faculty of writer may be, but without
the technical element his work remains incomplete. The substance of literature has to be moulded
and fashioned in accordance with the principles of order, symmetry, beauty and effectiveness. And
this element does this work to make a piece of literature superbly aesthetic in quality.

Thus, there are four types of elements that a writer furnishes to written work to make it a piece of
literature in real sense.

Literature as an Expression of Personality

Que.: “Literature as an Expression of Personality” OR “Art is life seen through a Temperament.”

In the second part of “Some Ways of Studying Literature”, Hudson deals with literature as an
expression of personality. He starts with the much-discussed definition of literature by Matthew
Arnold, “literature is the criticism of life.” Literature is an interpretation of life; the writer interprets
the life in his own way and gives a commentary over it in his work. According to a French epigram
“art is life seen through a temperament.” It means that literary art is an expression of life through
the temperament of the writer and literature mirrors this temperament. The mirror the writer hold
to the world is the mirror of his own personality and individuality. And hence it is necessary to
study literature as an expression of personality.

Hudson says that, “a great book is born of brain and heart of its author; he has put himself in
his pages; they partake of his life, and are instinct with his individuality.” Therefore, it is
essential to know the author in order to understand a work of art. We cannot understand any piece
of literature unless we understand and know the first. Hudson suggests us to establish a personal
contact with the author as “personal experience is the basis of all real literature.” Hudson
remembers famous quote of Milton, “a good book is the precious life-blood of a master-spirit,
embalmed and treasured up on the purpose of a life beyond life.” Thus, literature is an expression
of life but it is essential for all to understand the life of the writer first as literature is life-blood of
the author.

In order to judge great books, one must distinguish between what Carlyle calls ‘genuine voices’
and ‘mere echoes.’ He means to say that in great books the writers speaks for themselves, whereas
in an ordinary works they speak on the report of others. We must distinguish essential difference
between the literature which draws its life directly from personality and experience, and that which
draws its life mainly at second hand from contact with the personality and experience of others.
Thus, the second type of literature is, as Turgenev says, “smell of literature,” but as the student of
literature, the works of the “fullest of original vitality” are of chief concern.

Hudson says that there should be sincerity, originality, and, genuineness of expressing life in great
literature as without this a literary work becomes life-less. Hudson believes, “without sincerity, no
vital work in literature is possible.” Originality of experience makes literature “far more
accomplished art.” And genuineness of experience imparts to literature quality of authenticity
which is visible only in great works. In this way, Hudson suggests us to penetrate as deeply as we
can into the personal life of the author. Our reading should be actual intercourse between the author
of the book and ourselves. We should observe how the world of experience impressed him, and
how it is interpreted through his personality. While going through a book, we become familiar
with the character, outlook, strength, weakness, and, accent of the writer’s personality.

Thus, the study of literature is actually a study of writer’s personality. Hence one can say that
literature is in fact an expression personality.

The Study of an Author

Que.: The study of an Author OR What does Hudson suggest about the systematic study of
author?

The third part of the Chapter – I, “Some Ways of Studying Literature,” deals with the systematic
study of the author. The very opening of this part makes difference between the mere reader of
literature and the student of literature. The first reads in a haphazard and desultory way, whereas
the latter reads according to some regular order or plan. This suggests that only a systematic study
of literature makes one a good student of literature. He also distinguishes between reading and
studying. Reading may be haphazard but study is mostly systematic and organised.

The systematic study of an author starts with the close reading of his works. Hudson says that as
literature is an expression of writer’s personality, we must start our reading with the writer’s
personality. A work of literature is the record of writer’s personality. These records of writer’s
personality cannot be understood without understanding writer’s life. Hence it is essential for us
to take this personal trait as a ‘corpus’ or organic whole. We must consider the works of author
not separately but as a whole body – “not simply as works, but as his work.” Hudson names some
Shakespearean plays and says that we read and understand them without any sense of sequence,
but if we read them in a systematic way by comparing and contrasting them in matter and spirit,
and, in method and style, we can understand his works in better way. Hence manifestly there is
need of systematizing our reading.

Hudson suggests us the comparative method of studying an author. We should use the
chronological method of study. The chronological method focuses on the study of writer’s works
in order of their production. By following this method, we can understand the various phases of
writer’s experiences, the stages of his mental and moral growth, and, changes undergone by his
art. He gives an example of Shakespearean plays and proves that the chronological method of
studying an author will help us to know the development of Shakespeare’s dramatic art.

But, then, he raises a question: is it necessary to read all the works of a writer? He says that we
should read those works of the author which are really vital for our study. All the works of the
author may not be useful in our study. We should make selection of those works by the author
which are significant to us. We should compare and contrast the writer with himself. We should
compare and contrast his earlier works with his later works and then we should understand the
author’s craftsmanship.
The next step that Hudson suggests is to compare and contrast the writer with the other writers –
with men who worked in the same field, took up the same subject, dealt with the same problems,
and, wrote under the similar condition. He says that one who wants to understand Shakespeare in
better way should compare and contrast him with his great contemporaries like Marlowe, Jonson,
Beaumont, Fletcher, and, Webster. Then, we should try to compare the marking points in which
they resembled each other, the points in which they differ from each other, and in this way we can
come to know more about Shakespeare. If we want to know more about Tennyson, we should
compare him with Browning. The similar is the case of the classical dramatists like Sophocles and
Euripides as well as the Victorian novelists Dickens and Thackeray. Thus Hudson says that as a
student of literature our first business is to enter in the life of the author and to understand the vital
forces that shaped his personality.

Thus, to conclude, we can say that the line that Hudson quotes in his book, “all higher
knowledge is gained by comparison, and rests on comparison” is really apt. Comparison is the
basis of all higher knowledge.

Use and Abuses of Biography

WH Hudson’s tome, An Introduction to the Study of Literature, is a primary and significant work
that defines literature and makes students of literature aware of how they should study literature.
The fourth part of first chapter, entitled as “Some Ways of Studying Literature” makes the students
aware of the use and abuses of literature.

There is no doubt that the judicious use of good biography can certainly be useful in the study of
literature. The study of author’s biography helps us to understand the works of that author in a
better way. It makes us familiar with his life, social circumstances, his struggles, his problems, his
relations to the world, and, the influences that shaped him. This makes us aware of the gradual
intellectual growth of the author.

Hudson makes twofold suggestions while using a biography: (a) “it is good biography which alone
can be of service to us,” and, (b) “this must be used judicially.” There are number of the
biographies which pass under the name of literary biography but they have nothing ‘literary’ in
them. They are mere trivial gossip about the private life of famous men with which student of
literature has concern at all. Many biographies talk of the houses of great writers, the furniture of
their houses, and their dresses – to which a student of literature has no regards. The craze for the
personal details is often nurtured by the press and the media which hardly carries any literary
significance. Hudson says that while reading literary biography, we must not deal with the external
information that has nothing to do with the literary value of the writer’s works. We must focus on
those facts only which have connection with the works of the writer. Thus a biography can be
useful to us only if it is used judiciously, sensibly, wisely and with care.

To make us aware of abuses of the biography, Hudson suggests two important things to the student
of literature. Firstly, he says that we must make sure that it should not be “idle and impertinent
gossip about unimportant things,” and, secondly, we must distinguish between the reading of
“biography as the piece of literature” and reading of “biography as commentary upon an author’s
writing.” As student of literature, we must read biography in connection with the writer’s works.
Hudson also says that sometimes seemingly insignificant fact proves very significant in the study
of the author and sometimes important looking fact proves totally insignificant. So, it is reader’s
duty to find out what is important for him.

Hudson gives an example of Dante and Goethe to suggest that many a times the literary works
cannot be understand without the use of biography. It is very much difficult to understand the
works of these writers when detached from the life. Their works are highly confessional in nature.
Whereas there are some writers whose works and their life has no connection with each other. If
one tries to read Johnson’s works in connection with his life, he will not find anything useful in
biography that has connection with his life. Hudson makes it clear that, “the study of biography is
not the study of literature, and it should never be made substitute for it.”

Hudson also insists on the cultivation of the spirit of sympathy while reading the biography. Our
reading of the writer shall not be influenced by the comments of biographer on it. No one has right
to impose his own judgment upon us; and honest likes and dislikes are never to be disregarded. We
should decide what we have correlate from biography with his works.

Thus, in this way, Hudson indicates the possible uses and abuses of biography. While studying a
writer his biography helps a lot to understand his works in better way but simultaneously we must
be aware of its use and abuses.

The Study of Style as an Index of Personality

In the fifth part of “Some Ways of Studying Literature,” Hudson deals with ‘The Study of Style as
an Index of Personality’. In common sense ‘style’ indicates the use of language in writing of
literature. Many a times, while reading the literary work, we feel that “so and so must have written
that.” We feel sure that no one else can put the things in this way. The reason behind this is that
“the choice of words, the turn of phrases, the structure of sentences, their peculiar rhythm and
cadence” has a direct link to the individuality of the writer.

Hudson cites the definitions of two writers to indicate how style is an index of writer’s personality.
For Pope, style is “the dress of thought”, whereas for Carlyle, style is “not the coat of the writer,
but his skin.” Hudson says that Pope failed to understand the organic character of the style. For
him, style is something external form the writer which he can put on or take off at his will. Hudson
says that style is not something external but it is the skin of the author from which he cannot be
separated. It is possible that during the initial stage of his career, a writer might follow another
writer’s style but a stage comes when he moulds his own style. Hence it is rightly said that “every
spirit builds its own house.”

Hudson agrees with Newman’s idea that style is the shadow of writer. Shadow follows the man
wherever he goes; similarly style also follows the writer. Hudson also agrees with style is the
personal use of language. He says that the throng and succession of ideas, thoughts, feelings,
images, speculations which control the author finds the best expression in his own language. The
personal experiences of a person cannot be other’s. Thus the personal use of language makes the
style personal in outlook. Hudson makes it clear that majority of the men use the language of their
time “as they find it” but a man of genius uses the language “to his own purposes, and moulds it
according to his own peculiarities.”

The style is not only the living product of an author’s personality but also the transparent record
of his intellectual, spiritual, and artistic growth. A careful observation of style will inform the
reader of writer’s education, the influences that shaped him and mould his nature, the makers of
his personality, the books he lived with, the development of his thoughts, his changing outlook
upon the world and its problems, and, development of his creative genius and art.

Thus, the style of writer makes the reader aware of his personality. Hence we can say that style is
the index of writer’s personality.

The Historical Study of Literature

In the second chapter of An Introduction to the Study of Literature, Hudson deals with the
importance of making the historical study of literature, definition of national literature, spirit of
race, and, the difference between the history and history of literature. The book is an interesting
commentary on the study of literature for the beginners.

Hudson says that as we pass from the individual books to their authors, similarly we pass from an
individual author to the age in which he lived, and the nation to which he belonged. We cannot
understand literature in better way without making study of the history of literature. A writer is not
an isolated fact; he has his affiliations with number of the people, he lived with and his
society. Even, Hudson says that literature is developing organism, it has continuous its life and
consists of many varying phases. Therefore the historical study of the literature is important
because of two reasons: a. “the continuous life, or national spirit in it”, and, b. “the varying phases
of that continuous life or, the ways in which it embodies and expresses the changing spirit of
successive age.”

Hudson clarifies the notion of the national literature. He says that national literature is not the
chronological account of the men, belonging to the particular geographical area, who wrote in the
same language, with critical analysis of their defects and merits, and some description of the
literary schools and traditions or literary taste and fashions of the age. But the national literature is
“the progressive revelation, age by age, of nation’s mind and character.” History of any nation’s
literature is “the record of the unfolding of that nation’s genius and character under one of its most
important forms of literature.” Hudson notes that a writer may vary from the other writers of his
age but he has many things common with others because all the writers have the same national
spirit in their works. Hudson talks of the Greek and the Hebrew spirit. The word ‘spirit’ here
denotes the mind and character of the people of particular nation. The Greek works reveal to us
the mind and character of the Greek people, whereas the Hebrew works show the mind and
character of the Hebrew people.

Hudson believes that the historical study of the national literature is a form of travel. It make
familiar with other people, their customs, their culture and their society. It enables us to move
freely among the minds of other races. It also gives us a power of travelling in time. By the
historical study of the national literature, we become familiar not only with the minds of other
races, but also with the minds of other epoch.

Hudson finally differentiates between history and history of literature. History deals with the
external facts of the particular society during the particular era, whereas history of literature deals
with inner facts, moral characteristics, emotional energies that shaped intellectual and spiritual life
of the people.

Thus, the historical study of national literature is important as it reveals the mind and character of
the people.