Defining literature is a question that different people look at it in different ways and have differentviews. The Contemporary Chinese Dictionary published in our country defines literature as art of reflectingthe objective reality through images by the use of written languages， including drama， poem， novel， prose，etc. A Dictionary of Literary Terms published in Great Britain gives literature the definition： A vague termwhich usually denotes works which belong to the major genres： epic， drama， lyric， novel， short story， ode， etc.
If we describe something as“literature”， as opposed to anything else， the term carries with it qualitativeconnotations which imply that the work in discussed has superior qualities； that it is well above the ordinaryrun of written works. However， there are many works which cannot be classified in the main literary genreswhich nevertheless may be regarded as literature by virtue of the excellence of their writing， their originalityand their general aesthetic and artistic merits. For instance， scientist Darwin’s On the Origin of Species，historian J.B. Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire， etc. The definition of literature given byThe American College Dictionary is that“writings in which expression and form， in connection with ideasof permanent and universal interest， are characteristic or essential features， as poetry， romance， history，biography， essays， etc.”It is the entire body of writings of a specific language， period， people， subject， etc.：
the literature of England. The New Oxford Dictionary of English defines literature as“written works，especially those considered of superior or lasting artistic merit”.
2．文學的特點
通過閱讀文學作品和分析上述文學定義，我們明白了世界各國的文學都有下列共同的特點。
2．The features of literature
By reading literary works and analyzing the definitions of literature mentioned above， we’ve come to seethe common features of different national literatures as follows.
2.1 文學是語言的藝術
使用文學作品的作者藝術地使用語言。最重要的是，文學語言強調詞的內涵意義而不是字麵意義。不像科學語言主要強調語言的字麵價值，文學家以一種更微妙的方式使用語言——充分發揮詞可能含有的激起感情聯係的內涵意義。“母親”這個詞就是個切題的好例子。它的字麵意義隻是“母親”，但內涵意義卻包含有“保護、溫暖、關心、熱愛、獻身、家庭、童年的幸福記憶”等。因此，文學是言語的藝術，即語言的藝術使用。
2.1 Literature is the artistic use of language
Authors of literary works make use of language artistically. Most importantly， literary languageemphasizes connotative rather than denotative meanings of words. Unlike scientific language which mainlyemphasizes the denotative value of language， writers of literature use language in a more subtle manner—to bring into full play all the emotional associations that words may carry. A good case in point is the wordmother， whose denotation is simply the female parent， but the connotation may include such meanings asprotection， warmth， care， love， devotion， home， and a happy memory of one’s childhood. Thus， literature is theart of words， i.e. the artistic use of language.
2.2 文學是一種藝術
文學是“以語言文字為工具形象化地反映客觀現實的藝術”。文學作品是一個語言活動過程，這個過程設計出一個虛構的世界，其中包括陳述人、角色、事件和隱含的讀者。作者收集或想象一些或全部寫作材料。這也許就是為什麼文學常常被認為是想象的著作的原因。
甚至主要依靠實實在在事件的曆史小說也是虛構的，因為曆史小說中包含有曆史上絕不存在的人物、對話、事件和背景。文學的虛構性也在於作家對其作品施行的藝術掌控。這種藝術掌控使寫作作品的材料產生出風格化的效果，這樣，就把文學作品與客觀現實分開了。這種分開情況的發生隻是因為在文學現象與真實生活之間總是存在著明顯的差異。文學來源於現實生活，但文學作品中反映出來的生活卻可以而且應該比普通的實際生活更高，更強烈，更有集中性，更典型，更理想，因此就更帶普遍性。
2.2 Literature is an art
Literature is an“art of reflecting the objective reality through images by the use of written languages”.
The literary work is a linguistic event which projects a fictional world that includes speaker， actors， events，and an implied audience. Authors make up or imagine some or all the materials. This is perhaps whyliterature is often thought of as imaginative literature. Even historical fiction， which chiefly relies on factualevents， is also fictional， as it includes characters， dialogues， events， and settings that never existed in history.
The fictional quality of literature also lies in the artistic control that writers exercise over the work. Thisartistic control produces the effect of stylizing the materials of the work， thus setting it apart from the real.
This occurs simply because there always exists an obvious disparity between literary phenomena and real life.
The source of literature is real life. But life as reflected in works of literature can and ought to be on a higherplane， more intense， more concentrated， more typical， nearer the ideal， and therefore more universal thanactual everyday life.
2.3 文學是真實的
盡管文學大多是“虛構的”，但它生來就有真實的本質。這樣，文學就存在著一種——其想象的特性與其真實的人類情況的再現間的似非而是的論點。換句話說， 我們會發現文學在虛構性與真實性間有一種悖論。文學的真實性主要存在於下列三方麵。
2.3 Literature is true
Despite that literature is mostly“fictional”， it has the innate nature of being true. Thus， there existsa paradox in literature—its imaginative properties against its representation of actual human conditions. Inother words， we can find in literature a paradox between fictionality and truth. There are mainly three ways forliterature to be true.
首先，文學對真實生活的事實而言是真實的。文學直接說明對真人、真事、真地點的描寫。更重要的是，從傳達人生真實思想的動力這個角度來說，文學是真實的。
其次，文學由於間接地說明了作者在作品中表達的思想而存在著真實性，因為作者盡管在其作品中用所有的細節編造了一個想象的世界，但這個想象的世界是建立在作者對真實世界的思想基礎之上的。
最後，讀者在文學作品中讀到的通常是典型人物和接連巧合的活動，那是作者把真實生活的混亂狀況整理得有條不紊，把真實的人們典型化成各種人物，並詳述他們在真實生活中可能進行的各種活動。這樣，我們常能發現文學作品中的各種人物代表著我們真實生活的各種熟人。
First of all， literature is true to the facts of real life. It directly states the depictions of real people， actualplaces， and existing events. More importantly， literature is true in the sense of its power of communicatingtruthful ideas of human life.
Then， literature is true because of the indirectly stated ideas that the authors present in literary works.
Though all the details of a literary work make up an imaginary world， such a world is based on the author’sideas about the real world.
Finally， what we readers usually encounter in literary works are the typical characters and probableactions. By imposing order on the chaos of real life， authors present characters who typify real people， andthey recount actions that would probably happen in real life. Because of this， we are often be able to findcharacters who represent recognizable types of people in real life.
2.4 文學是審美對象
文學的美學特點在於其語言的美學作用。現代西方美學的重要理論家伊曼努爾·康德認為，美學就是在物質世界和精神世界之間架起一座橋梁的嚐試，是溝通一個由力量和龐然大物組成的世界與一個由理念組成的世界的嚐試。審美對象，例如文學作品、音樂和美術作品通過作用於感官的形式（語言、聲音、色彩）和精神的內涵（思想理念）融為一體來實現把物質與精神結合在一起的可能性。一部文學作品就是一個審美對象，這是因為在暫時排除或擱置了其他交流功能之後，文學促使讀者去思考形式與內容間的關係。審美對象具有“無目的的合目的性”。它們的建構具有一種目的性：使它們的各個部分都協調一致地去實現某個目的，但這個目的就是藝術作品本身，是蘊含在作品當中的愉悅，或者是由作品引起的愉悅。我們從文學中得到的愉悅能夠在作者使用比如隱喻、情節、人物、象征、諷刺、懸念、主題、有韻律的語言等文學技巧的方式中發現。所有這些文學元素結合在一起就組成了一種藝術美的有機連貫性。並且，我們在感覺文學藝術美的過程中，還能探索文學的深刻意義。