What Do We Want From Literature?

“What do we want from literature?” was a question posed in this week’s session of my literary editing and publishing class. I had many answers right away: escapism, knowledge, to feel less alone, to gain some sort of guidance in our crazy world. However, there is some sort of juxtaposition or opposition in this list with the ends being both escapism and guidance. How can these be in just one medium? This is exactly the reason I felt I needed to share with an audience, even a small one. 

Literature provides so many different things for readers - and even non-readers. How many times has your booklover self decided to share a tidbit about a book you’re reading with a non-reader friend? I know I have, many times. This wealth of knowledge being shared creates a community, and it teaches us how to or how not to act, think, etc. by providing examples of human interactions and other scenarios. So, while we are reading to escape our world, we are also thinking about how the scenarios in the stories we read can apply to our reality. For example, if someone reads 1984 by George Orwell right now, they will probably feel some sort of connection. Yet, there is some sort of escapism in this act of reading because we aren’t quite there… yet. 

As we all went around the room to answer the question posed by our professor, he asked a follow up. “When does social media become literature” and this is something that caused a lot of reflection for my whole class. Some said it is not literature, and shouldn’t be considered as such, but there were others who followed Instagram and Twitter poets and argued that these are writers, writing literature. Then there were some that argued that it needs to be in print to be literature. But what about eBooks that never went to physical print, and just exist in our digital landscape? Why is there such a resistance to consider a social media post, literature? What if Emily Dickinson originally posted her poems to a social media platform? What if William Shakespeare’s sonnets were posted to X or Instagram first? If Phyllis Wheatley posted her letters and poems to reddit before they were posthumously published? Would they ever get published if that were the case? For this course we are also reading Marshall McLuhan’s Understanding Media and he kind of touches on this in his idea in his “The Medium is the Message” chapter. It isn’t about what the content of what we write - it is about where we write it or deliver it, or even post it. McLuhan knew this before social media was even a thought. So, therefore we consider “social media poetry” its own genre, and that is because we hear “social media” and think that is is less valuable. As McLuhan also suggests, we are creating value based on the name of a thing. Social media is causing the stock of literature to fall when it’s name is in the title. 

My professor’s other follow up question of “How is literature different from platforms like TikTok, Instagram, etc.?” really got me thinking. For me, the biggest difference between the print book (and honestly, even the digital one) and social media comes down to one thing: capitalism, wealth, money - however you’d like to put it. While you do have to purchase a book, nothing comes after that. Even if you are thinking of a series, they are separate books that you choose to purchase, after your evaluation of what you've read. When you read a book, there are no ads in the middle. There are no sponsored products. There is just the name of the publisher, the author, and the other books the author has written, and these are often in the front/back of the book. When you purchase a book you can enjoy it, there is no pressure to purchase something else to become a better person. You aren’t enticed to buy gadgets that make your life easier. You aren’t influenced to buy the latest beauty product. There are also many places to share and acquire books for free, such as book swaps and libraries, furthering the idea that books are not just trying to capitalize. This, for me, is the biggest difference. 

The conversation my class had last night is one that I am going to ruminate on for a while. I don’t think this is a question that has one answer. Everyone wants or needs something different, and this need or want is going to change because people are dynamic and things evolve. But I want to know - what do you want from literature?