How then, does literature deal with life? Does it deal with life in a concrete or an
abstract way? In a concrete way. We can say that literature presents human experience; it
doesn't discuss it. It shows; it doesn't tell. It appeals to our senses and to our feelings as well as
to our minds. It enables us to see, hear and feel characters in action. In a sense, it recreates
experience. Philosophy also takes human life or experience as its subject, but it deals with life in
a theoretical rather than a concrete way. To cite just one example, a philosopher might write a
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Why © 2001 Patrick Henry College
Pro Christo et Libertate
book explaining to us the defects of the philosophy called “utilitarianism"; but Charles Dickens,
as a writer, wrote a novel, Hard Times, in which he exposed concretely, through a story, the
problems with utilitarianism. He enables us, in this way, not only to understand the problems
with our minds, but also to see and hear them with our senses and feel them with our hearts as
well.
We have said that literature reflects life. How then is a novel about a twenty-four hour
period (such as James Joyce's Ulysses) different from a book that merely records everything that
happened in twenty four hours? Or how is a movie different from someone with a movie camera
who simply walks around at random for two or three hours and shoots whatever he sees? Don't
both "reflect" life? But literature doesn't simply record life—it interprets it. It doesn't simply
reflect life—it focuses it. It's a mirror, but a special kind of mirror. It's a mirror in which we can
see ourselves even more clearly, more vividly than in an ordinary mirror. Through a process
sometimes called "artistic selection” the writer or poet or movie maker simplifies experience, yet
at the same time he clarifies and deepens it. He selects that which is most important, most basic.
In other words, he tries to make sense out of life. He reflects on the meaning of life. So there is
implicit in every poem or play or story a "worldview," a set of values. Literature (as well as
philosophy) asks and answers the "big questions": 1) Where have we come from? 2) Where are
we going? 3) What is the meaning of our existence? Literature not only asks these questions in
a searching and eloquent way, but also provides us with a wide variety of possible answers.
How then does literature differ from history? The controlling purpose of history is to
record or reconstruct human life. The controlling purpose of literature is to simplify, clarify,
deepen and focus, e.g. to interpret human life. So Byron in Don Juan speaks of past heroes who
"shone not on the poet's page, and so have been forgotten." Poetry makes the deeds of past
heroes more clear and vivid and so more memorable. It has been said that journalism (history)
tells you what happened yesterday, whereas literature tells you what always happens, e. g. what
is most characteristic of human nature in its deepest reaches. We might summarize this part of
our discussion with the following table