Does it really matter what “literature” is? Does everyone have to agree? Because there is no hard and fast definition of literature, perhaps it is more beneficial to seek an analysis instead. What purposes does literature serve? What distinguishes literature from non-literary works? What makes us treat something as literature? How do we know when something is literature? Would it be easier to ask “what isn't literature”?
Literature is as literature does. In exploring ideas about what literature is, it is useful to look at some of the things that literature does. Literature is something that reflects society, makes us think about ourselves and our society, allows us to enjoy language and beauty, it can be didactic, and it reflects on “the human condition”. It both reflects ideology and changes ideology, just like it follows generic conventions as well as changing them. It has social and political effects: just ask Salman Rushdie or Vladamir Nabakov. Literature is the creation of another world, a world that we can only see through reading literature.