3．提供普遍性和麵對能夠讀懂這種語言的人，二者合一便產生了一種強大的民族性的作用。文學作品，尤其是小說，通過設定並吸引一個廣大的讀者群，有助於創造民族群體。這個民族群體是有界限的。不過，從原則上說，它又是向一切能夠讀懂它的語言的人敞開的。
虛構小說無聲地、不斷地滲入到現實當中，默默地創造著一種非凡的群體信念，這正是現代國家的特征。把文學中的人物、陳述人、情節和主題表現得具有普遍意義，目的就在於促成一個既開放又有界限的、假設的群體。事實上，越是強調文學的普遍性，它的民族作用就越大。例如肯定英國女作家簡·奧斯汀眼裏的世界具有普遍性，反倒使英國成為一個非常特殊的地方，成為一個品位高雅、行為規範的地方。而且，更重要的是，它有利於英國社會道德和社會環境的形成。在這樣的環境之中，倫理道德問題得以解決，人格品質也得以塑造。
3．The combination of offering universality and addressing all those who can read the language hashad a powerful national function. Works of literature， particularly novels， help to create national communitiesby their postulation of and appeal to a broad community of readers， being bounded yet in principle opento all who can read the language. Fiction seeps quietly and continuously into reality， creating remarkableconfidence of community in anonymity which is the hallmark of modern nations. To present the characters，speakers， plots， and themes of some literature as polentially universal is to promote an open yet boundedimagined community. In fact， the more the universality of literature is stressed， the more it may have anational function. For instance， asserting the universality of the world vision offered by the Englishwomanwriter Jane Austen makes England a very special place indeed， a site of standards of taste and behaviour and，more important， of the moral scenarios and social circumstances in which ethical problems are worked outand personalities are formed.
4．文學是意識形態的手段，同時文學又是使其崩潰的工具。它具備社會的和政治的功能。文學作品通過在不同的階級、性別、種族、國家和年齡的人們中提倡認同而促進了一種勸阻鬥爭的“同伴情感”，維護著社會穩定。但同時作品也可能會產生一種強烈的不公平意識，這種意識又使開展進步鬥爭成為可能。從曆史的角度看，文學作品享有促進變革的聲譽，例如美國女作家哈麗特·比徹·斯托的《湯姆叔叔的小屋》在那個時代就是一本暢銷書，它促成了一場反對奴隸製的革命，這場革命又引發了美國的內戰。
4．Literature is the vehicle of ideology and literature is also an instrument for its undoing. It performsthe social and political functions. By promoting identification across divisions of class， gender， race， nation，and age， literary works may promote a“fellow-feeling”that discourages struggle and maintain the socialstability； but they may also produce a keen sense of injustice that makes progressive struggles possible.
Historically， works of literature are credited with producing change： The American woman writer HarrietBeecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin， a best-seller in its day， helped create a revolution against slavery thatmade the American Civil War possible.
5．文學既是文化的雜音，又是文化的信息。它既是一種製造混亂的力量，又是一種文化資本。學習文學等於是一筆文化投資，它可能會以各種方式給你以回報，幫助你進入社會上層，特別是在現代社會裏，在這樣一個對個人和群體來說充滿形形色色的又相互結合的社團、國家權力、傳播行業和跨國公司的時代裏。但是不能認為文學僅僅具有這種保守的社會功能。它不是“家庭價值觀”的傳播者。相反從彌爾頓《失樂園》中撒旦反叛上帝，到陀思妥耶夫斯基《罪與罰》中拉斯科爾尼科夫謀殺老婦人，可以說文學使各種罪惡具有了誘惑力。它鼓勵抵製資本主義的價值觀，反對由資本主義經濟滋生出來的自私和物欲主義，為人們提供替代的價值觀和文化資本。
5．Literature is the noise of culture as well as its information. It is an entropic force as well as culturalcapital. Learning about literature gives you a stake in culture that may pay off in various ways， helping you fitin with people of higher social status， particularly in the modern world， for individuals and groups， in a worldof diverse and intermingled communities， state power， media industries， and multinational corporations.
But literature cannot be reduced to this conservative social function： it is scarcely the purveyor of“familyvalues”but makes seductive all manner of crimes， from Satan’s revolt against God in Milton’s Paradise Lostto Raskolnikor’s murder of an old woman in Dostoevski’s Crime and Punishment. It encourages resistanceto capitalist values and counters the selfishness and materialism fostered by the capitalist economy， offeringpeople alternative values and giving them a stake in culture.
6．文學起到一種替代宗教的作用。宗教似乎不能再把整個社會團結在一起了。文學在傳授中立的審美體驗的同時培養一種民族自豪感。