RE-INTERROGATING THE NATURE AND ROLE OF LITERATURE IN CRITICAL DISCOURSE

While attempts have been made to give a comprehensive definition of literature, such efforts have, however, ended up producing more questions than answers. This scenario perhaps explains why some scholars are wondering whether the question, “What is literature?” will ever be answered. There is, nevertheless, general agreement on the fact that the definition of literature is substantially tasking as important as it may be, and that there is hardly any book that does. This paper pushes further the discourse by locating the concept of literature within the practical domain of literary criticism; and submits that the meaning and significance of the literary phenomenon lie in its philosophical elasticity and possibilities.