Definition or Nature of literature

                                                                                                                                                                Here we are going to study of  English literature so first we have to define what is literature and how it is different from other
what is literature?

and

what is literary study?
we can define that that literature and literary study are two different activities,

• literature is creative
• it is art
• it is science

literary study is one of  the species of knowledge of learning .
The definition or nature of literature.
different critics have different views of definition of literature
as Edwin Greenlaw in his book "The Province of Literary History"says-
Nothing related to the history of civilization is beyond our province.We are not manuscript record in our efforts to understand a period or civilization,we must see our work in light of its possible contribution to the history of culture.
literature will be judged valuable only so far as it yields results for all disciplines 'Greats Books' The study of isolated great books commendable for pedagogical purpose, especially new students should real great or at least good books and not mere compilation or historical curiosities.
The word literature has its etymological origin in 'litra' or 'written'.The advocates of this theory,ignore oral literature like legends, folk tales and such other works which have literary values. In literature the  particular use of language as material like as stone is of sculpture and paint of painting .As in  The Nature of Literature the use of the language can be either literary or everyday use ;but this distinction is not satisfactory.
Nature of literature emerges most clearly under the represential aspects.The centre of literary art is to be found in lyric,the epic,the drama, it is the reference to a world of fiction,of imagination.Characters have no past ,no future and no continuity in life.time and space in a novel or drama are not those of real life.The distinguishing traits of literature are fictionality,invention or imagination.
Literature grows out of life;but it is difficult to define it. Anything in print can be literature but it is not true. Historical study overlooks literary values;literary study has the emotional content predominant. Purely informative books have aesthetic points, Oral literature is part of literature as found in legends, myths, and ballads epics etc.Style and language make literature distinct as it is expression of emotion in words. Imagination and fictionality are the distinctive features of literature,it is personal use or exercise of language.