Literature and Communication

Literature is the study of human communication. It deals, of course, with great writers from Shakespeare to Cervantes, Jane Austen to James Joyce, and it deals with texts, Greek plays, romantic poems, Gothic novels set in gloomy castles. But it's also about more than that. Literature offers access to vibrant forms of expression and asks us to embrace new ways of thinking about the world. It shows us how to read critically, even asking why we read and write at all. Above all, it explores how we communicate ideas and why. So for a student of literature, all forms of communication are considered texts and can become the focus of critical inquiry.