What is Literature?

What is literature? To answer that question, I have to examine my own journey with it, but I wonder where should I start from? Should I begin with the stories my great grandmother used to tell me, the ones that kept me occupied throughout my summer vacations? Or should I begin with my grandfather’s little book collection that ignited the desire to be well read? I suppose I will also have to tell you about Disney Princess Belle who used to be so engrossed in her books that she didn’t care about anyone else and I wanted to be like her. And I have always been envious of her enormous library. 

But my literary  journey truly begins in my classroom, where I first heard about a French writer, whose works inspired real life inventions like submarines and rockets. I was simply enchanted by the idea that somebody’s fictional stories can create such a change in our world. Soon I picked up one of his books, the first novel I’ve ever read - Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. Although, I will admit it was a difficult read and I didn’t quite understand it but I was enchanted by Captain Nemo. 

After that, I decided to read books that I would understand. So, I began with children’s literature. The fairy tales about the boy who never grows up (Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie) and mysterious wizards (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum). I read books about secret gardens, little girls with power of imagination and determination (The Secret Garden and The Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett), and strange wonderlands (Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll). I still find myself re-reading Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince, trying to understand the timeless wisdom delivered in a childlike perspective. 

These books became the path that led me to the magical world of Hogwarts. I realised my ability as a reader while I read The Harry Potter books which were simply impossible to put down. These books were my first literary obsession. My second obsession was the genius detective of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The mysteries of Sherlock Holmes, the London streets and the 221B Baker Street flat, were truly the best of times.  

Another significant part of my literary journey were the Indian mythical tales. I simply did not understand how a story can be retold again and again, and still hold its charm. What is it about these stories that make us want to read them even if we already know the ending? In pursuit of this question, I spent many days wrapped up in mythological fiction books like Asura and Vanara by Anand Neelkanthan, Lanka’s Princess, Ahalya’s Awakening, Karna’s Wife, and The Fisher Queen’s Dynasty by Kavita Kané, Devdutt Pattnaik’s Jaya, Mythiya, and Olympus. Out of all these, the one that I admired the most was The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. 

Around this time, I started my bachelors degree in literature and the mythical stories were replaced by classical novels. I read works of Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Persuasion), Charles Dickens (A Christmas Carol, David Copperfeild, The Old Curiosity Shop), George Orwell (Animal Farm, 1984), Emily Brontë (The Wuthering Heights), Bram Stoker (Dracula), Charlotte Brontë (Jane Eyre), and Shakespeare Plays (Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet). These  classical masterpieces solidified my love for literature. 

Till this point in time, literature was a way to escape life. Something that transports you to a different reality. An opportunity to be in someone else’s shoes.  This idea changed when I started my masters degree. I saw another aspect of literature which I had been ignoring till now. That is, literature’s ability to reflect our own reality. How it can be a tool for resistance. A voice for the marginalised people. I had avoided political literature because it made me uncomfortable. My master's journey taught me that it is the duty of literature to make the reader uncomfortable so that they may think something new. I also discovered the analytical part of literature. The theories with which you can evaluate, not only literary works, but life itself. I was acquainted with a few philosophical ideas and theories, but studying them in detail made me truly understand and appreciate them. 

My journey with literature has been one of discovery, first as a form of escape, then as a means of understanding the world, and finally as a tool for critical thought and resistance. From childhood stories to complex theories, literature has shaped my perception of reality and continues to challenge me. And perhaps that is what literature truly is—something that grows with us, constantly evolving as we do, always offering new perspectives if we are willing to see them. I would say literature is a way of life.