Definition of literature

Jean Paul Sartre: literature must be deal with “belles letters” (beautiful writing)
Therefore generally it is defined as the expression of beautiful thoughts and ideas in a beautiful language.
The point is that it appeals to the emotion and to the imagination, and gives the reader certain pleasure and satisfaction.
Literature is a vital record of what men have seen in life, what they have experienced of it, what they thought and felt about those aspects of it.

The functions of literature:
1. Literature stimulates us to understand and comprehend the life which is presented by the author in his work after we interpret it.
2. Literature suggests various possibilities in term of moral, social, and psychological accelerate the reader’s mental maturity and character building process reflected in the behavior and mature thought consideration.
3. Literature can lead the reader to mentally digest and comprehend imaginatively the importance beyond himself and see life through different perspective and point of view.
4. Literature can maintains the existence and the regeneration of culture and tradition of a nation in term of the way of thinking, tradition, history, and the other part of culture.
5. Literature helps the reader to know better about himself and his environment and sharpen his social awareness.

The functions of teaching literature
1. to motivate the students in absorbing the language expressions.
2. as a simulative means in language acquisition.
3. as a media in understanding culture.
4. as a means of interpretative ability development.
5. as a means of education the whole person.
6. as a means in developing students’ imagination.
7. as a means in arising the students’ awareness of the values in society.
8. as a means to stimulate the students in describing their experiences, feeling and opinion.
9. as a means to help the student in developing their intelligent and emotion in learning language.
10. as a means to stimulate the students in gaining the language skills.