theoryofliteratu00inwell

CHAPTER IX
Literature and Society
Literature is a social institution, using as its medium language,
a social creation. Such traditional literary devices as symbolism
and meter are social in their very nature. They are conventions
and norms which could have arisen only in society. But, fur-
thermore, literature "imitates" "life" 3 and "life" is, in large
measure, a social reality, even though the natural world and
the inner or subjective world of the individual have also been
objects of literary "imitation." The poet himself is a member
of society, possessed of a specific social status: he receives some
degree of social recognition and reward} he addresses an audi-
ence, however hypothetical. Indeed, literature has usually arisen
in close connection with particular social institutions} and in
primitive society we may even be unable to distinguish poetry
from ritual, magic, work, or play. Literature has also a social
function, or "use," which cannot be purely individual. Thus a
large majority of the questions raised by literary study are, at
least ultimately or by implication, social questions: questions of
tradition and convention, norms and genres, symbols and myths.
With Tomars, one can formulate: "Esthetic institutions are not
based upon social institutions: they are not even part of social
institutions: they are social institutions of one type and inti-
mately interconnected with those others." x
Usually, however, the inquiry concerning "literature and so-
ciety" is put more narrowly and externally. Questions are asked
about the relations of literature to a given social situation, to an
economic, social, and political system. Attempts are made to
describe and define the influence of society on literature and to
prescribe and judge the position of literature in society. This
sociological approach to literature is particularly cultivated by
those who profess a specific social philosophy. Marxist critics not
only study these relations between literature and society, but
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