History of Literature – Science of Literature

Abstract

In this paper, we tried to analyse most objectively the science of literature, proceeding further with the most prominent theorists of the history of literature who at the same time set the framework of literary theory. Literature is the science that deals with the experiences of the human inner world, where through the written word, emerge experiences, preoccupations, beautiful feelings, sufferings as well as reality and imagination. Literature and the study of literature are two different fields. Literature is the art of beautiful speech, whereas the study of literature is completely a science. Some theorists present the study of literature as knowledge, some reject it saying that is a second-hand creation after literary creation, whereas some think that literature cannot be studied at all and only the reader may find delight in literature and experience the literary creation whether in prose or in poetry. There have been different opinions on the issue of literature and the study of literature since the time of the first theorists who used to be philosophers and became theorists through the need of thinking about a certain issue. The science of literature is said to be a systematic study. This science is divided according to the rules of theorists in the history of literature, theory of literature and as the third is the criticism of literature being an integral part of the science of literature. Due to the fields included in the history of literature, as a separate field of study is distinguished the history of special literature, history of comparative literature and history of general literature. History of comparative literature explores the connections or relationships of two or more literature of different nations. The comparative history tries to identify commonalities or differences between the literature of different peoples, taken and given among them, similarities between them, etc. Contributors to the history of literature, in terms of the theory of literature, are: Horace, Aristotle, Friedrich Schiller, Nicholas Bualo, Pierre Cornea, Philip Sidney, etc.