(After finishing and re-reading my blog, I realize that it focused more on the articles I read outside of class, than what we actually did in class...oops!) Something that really stood out to me this week was the difference between general fiction (a story) and a piece of Literature. Now this may not have been the main idea in class this week, but it's something that interested me and I decided to look into it, and quite frankly I couldn’t figure out how to write 250 words about how we connected our summer reading books to How to Read Literature Like a Professor. Up until recently, I always thought there was a big difference between general fiction and literature, but I’m not so sure anymore. In one of the article I read this week, the differences between literature and general fiction was that literature is generally more controversial, complex, and has an overall lesson to it. Frankly, I think this is a giant load of malarkey; general fiction can be just as complex and controversial as Literature. Take 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher for example. The book is about a girl revealing why she had committed suicide and contains a lot of sexual content (including a rape scene). How can you get any more controversial that that?! As for the overall lesson, I believe that everyone can learn something from any book, simply based on how you think about it. The only difference that I have found between Literature and general fiction is the fact that Literature tends to be older. Think about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. When this book was first published, it was a piece of general fiction! It was an adventure book for boys! And my grandpa’s favorite book! But now the only reason it is considered Literature, is because it was controversial for its time and is old. Authors don’t write books planning on them to become timeless literary classics; they write what they think people of the time would enjoy (just like commercial fiction). Time is the only difference between 13 Reasons Why and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I don’t want this to seem as if I was attacking Literature, I am confused as to why everyone seems to classify them in different categories. In reality, general fiction and Literature are more similar than people think.
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