The Intersection Of Literature And Life: Examining The Relationship And The Role Of A Critic

Literature teaches you what life is and how to live it.

Literature is a term that doesn’t open and close for one particular field. It is an ocean and a collective term which is synonymous with a term which can define “Everything under the sun”. Literature doesn’t hold rules within it.

Literature is a reflection of life as the scholars would say it. Literature is not much far than philosophy. Literature itself is a philosophy. Philosophical aspects are either revealed openly or hidden within the pieces of literature. Concealed elements in the literary works and the process in which the spectators decode it, this itself can become a myth. Life remains incomplete until one tastes literature. There’s no life without literature and no literature without life.

Literature is all about finding who you are? This completely deals with humanity, society and every other thing that are related to those two. Why is the question that would arise in everyone’s heart after being unveiled of the truth of each and everything. Literature doesn’t confine only to fiction. It also deals with reality. But, with literature as a point of view there would be nothing called “Absolute Truth”. In Literature everything can be questioned and in the process of decoding a piece of Literature everything becomes clear and visible.

As said earlier, Literature is just a reflection but not a copy of what we see every day. A perfect guideline for life is given by many best pieces of literature. As coin has two sides, everything has both Pros and Cons. Even Literature has it. It is the work of Critics to judge it. Appropriately every reader of a literary text is a critic and every critic should be a contributor to literature.

Literature teaches us all the aesthetic values of life. Its main aspect is to promote, Celebrate and live life. It can be termed as an advertisement to a brand called “Life”. So, a life without Literature is like the universe without the stars.

First let’s derive an answer for the question “Who’s a writer?” A writer is the one who writes is the typical definition for the question. A writer is not only the one who writers. He/she is a teacher, a mentor, a philosopher, a preacher and much more. Now an answer for the question “Who’s a critic?” A critic is the one who Criticize a piece of writing. Is a critic different from a writer?

A critic criticizes a piece of writing and not a writer. A writer and a critic are not enemies. A writer learns from a critic and it happens vice versa in the case of a critic. A critic should know his/her limitations. He/she must not take any literary work personally. His comments shouldn’t be objective.

A writer writes from his heart. So, whatever a writer writes would be pure. There are no rules and regulations for a writer. It was there during the classical era. As time passed and as modernization began those classical rules faded out. But even now there are people who follow those classical rules for their writings. It is not that writers who follow the classical rules for their writings are worthy and those who don’t follow those are worthless.

A critic’s main duty is to pose as a teacher who gives worthy comments for a writer. A writer is the one who admires, cherish and nurtures everything that’s around him/her. But a critic is the one who scrutinize the writer and his writing. He/she would survey on the aspects of the writer’s writing more than the reason behind why they wrote it. Moreover that, a typical critic ponders on a particular piece of writing rather than what is present there.

A writer is the one who thinks out of the box. A critic is the one whose thinking is confined to one particular circle. When this circle does would become a box and when the critic would also think out of the box. It is only when a critic is also a writer. It is not so necessary that a writer should be a critic but as critic would be more just in his critical comments when he himself is a writer. But a writer is a writer and a critic is a critic and this is the inevitable truth of the nature. Even if a critic is a writer, when it comes to being a critic, his/her thinking ultimately becomes critical!