Literature expresses inner feelings in different forms, that is, genres, and reproduces social life in a certain period and region. As a discipline, literature includes China language and literature, foreign language and literature and journalism and communication.
Literature belongs to one of the humanities, and keeps pace with philosophy, religion, law and politics at the top of the social structure. It originated from human thinking activities. Oral literature first appeared, usually combined with music to form lyric poems that can be sung. The earliest written documents are China's The Book of Songs, Indian Ramayana and ancient Greek Ilion Ji.
China's works written in words in the pre-Qin period were collectively referred to as literature, and literary works were listed separately only after Wei and Jin Dynasties. The classification of European traditional literature theory divides literature into three categories: poetry, prose and drama. Modern literature is usually divided into four categories: poetry, novel, prose and drama.
Literature is the art of language, an important embodiment of social culture and beauty. Literary works are works that writers express their unique spiritual world with unique language art. Without these two unique characteristics, there would be no real literary works. An outstanding writer is a hero in the spiritual world of a nation.
Literature represents the art and wisdom of a nation. Literature is a subject that expresses social life and psychological activities in words, and belongs to the category of social ideology.
In addition to external, practical and utilitarian values, extended literature also has internal, seemingly useless and utilitarian values, that is, spiritual values.
Spirit has many different definitions. We generally define the concept of spirit in this sense: it is an intentional existence within human beings, an organic unity of many psychological factors of human rationality and sensibility, and a psychological activity process of human beings constantly surpassing themselves and perfecting themselves.
Therefore, spiritual value is different from material value, and spiritual value is internal, ontological and constantly surpassing itself. Literary creation is the spiritual activity of literary and art workers, literary works belong to the spiritual products of human beings, and the acceptance and appreciation of literature and art also belong to human spiritual activities.
Therefore, the spiritual value of literature and art should be its own most intrinsic and basic value. As the early German phenomenologist Moritz Geiger pointed out:
"In a work of art, there are certain characteristics that constitute its value, that is, the characteristics of artistic spiritual value, that is, it does not serve a certain purpose. These values are experienced by people as features that exist in works and are included in works of art. "
While performing various "service" duties, art has forgotten what it is, and while we have too many "works of art", we have also lost our "artistic spirit".
Art is not only a tool, but also a "work". Art is essentially a way of life, an attitude towards life, a connotation of life and a belief on which life depends.
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