What is the difference between a mere story and a work of Literature?

KatieT: What is the difference between a mere story and a work of Literature?
What is literature defined as, not literature the word, but the works themselves?
Why is what is considered a work of fiction not always considered literature?

Answers and Views:

Answer by princessbi2006
Tricky one. I can only give my opinion really…

To me, literature has to have a well developed and sophistocated style of prose for a start (but this doesn’t mean arty flowery language, and actually I hate writing like that). The narration has a distinct voice, it can evoke strong ideas and emotions from very few words, and address issues in ways you don’t expect. It combines good narrative with strong realistic characters and dialogue. They often address issues in unique and profound ways, they can have social or cultural significance. Although I’ll admit, some books which are considered to be ‘literature’ from the academic view point, can also be dull and not everyone’s cup of tea.

Many, many books do have this. Many others don’t. There are many books that while they might might be considered a good story, the writer has employed a rather pedestrian and juvenile style of prose and failed to give as much credence to the language itself. They concentrate more on getting the story out, than how it’s done. It’s not always a bad thing, I’ve read many quite good stories that I’ve enjoyed reading that I certainly wouldn’t classify as literature, but equally I’ve read plenty of bad ones.

A work of fiction can just be a good story. ‘Literature’ is not, it is a piece of artwork.