literature what for?

“That the aim of literary analysis is to lear about the instruments that literary analysis uses. Reading poems and novels does not lead to making the students think about the human conditions, about the individual and society, about love and hate, and about joy and despair, but about critical concepts, whether traditional or modern. At school, pupils do not learn what literature talks about but instead what critics talk about”. (What is literatute for. Tzvetan Todorov.Page 18.

After thinking about the real purpose of literature; I realised there is no point in reading a text, whatever its nature is, just to remember dates, characters or facts. So, if we think that literature seeks to stimulate a reaction on the reader; reaction that might be undefined due to the fact it depends on the reader’s point of view. Then teachers are a relevant element to spread the social dimension of literature; a social dimension that needs to have a space inside our classrooms. As Todorov states, schools should give students the opportunity to discover to be critic about what they are reading. Teachers need to let our students know about the importance of a critical reading. It’s good and advisable to analyse whatever we are reading. Perhaps not to share the posture of the writer but to understand that each and everyone of us have a different way of seeing. It’s also healthy for a community to discuss the current issues by reading what some other person has written about them.
After all literature is at the service of people and not the other way around.