Blogging As Literature? Why Not?

 

—-

By Jael Strong

At the end of March of this year, blogger Gregory Cowles wrote for The New York Times blog Paper Cuts questioning whether or not blogs could ever rise to level of literature.  Ultimately, he came to the conclusion that it  could not.  Is that true?  Is the blogger doomed to a life of genre writing that could never be called literature?

King Solomon said, “To the making of books there is no end and much devotion to them is wearisome to the flesh.”  How true! In our modern world, certainly blogs fall under this lexical umbrella.  There are so many blogs out there, more being added each day, is it fair to assume that none could ever rise to the level of literature? 

Some argue that blogging is journalism and as such is hindered from being fine, creative, literature.  In order to discover whether we bloggers could ever find ourselves listed among the pantheon of great literary writers, we first need to establish what is literature.

What is literature?

This is the stuff of which books are made, and they have been made.  Jean-Paul Sartre’s essay titled “What is literature?” is certainly a definitive and recognized source on the subject.  I won’t pretend to offer the final word on the topic.  Instead here is a short list to help us define literature.  Literature:

• is recognized for its value and is shared for that reason.
• represents society, culture, history, or some element as a whole.
• endures over time, being called upon years or centuries past its creation.
• is artistic or creative by nature.
• displays outstanding style and quality.

This list is not comprehensive of course.  It gives us some benchmarks by which to measure our writing, though.  Analyzing this criteria, it appears impossible to say whether any blogs written today could be labeled literature.  Equally true is that we can’t make the blanket statement that a blog could never be literature.  Time will tell whether any bloggers will make a permanent mark in the world of writing.

How should this affect us?

 When I read the post written by Mr. Cowles, I was taken aback, not because I feel that I have written something outstanding that could be called literature, but because I felt the opportunity for great writing was being snatched away from bloggers. 

If something is worth writing about, it is worth writing about it well.  True, there are a lot of lack-luster posts out there, just as there are many lack-luster books.  It isn’t the form that written work takes that defines it, but it is the quality of that work.  Therefore, as bloggers, we need to write about things that matter to us and hopefully to others.  We need to write well.  We need to write creatively.  As writers, we should never feel stunted by our venue!

What do you think?  Could a blog ever rise to level of literature?

Jael Strong writes for TheWriteBloggers, a professional blogging service which builds clients’ authority status and net visibility.  She has written both fiction and non-fiction pieces for print and online publications.  She regularly blogs at Freelance Writing Mamas .

Thanks, Jael–ME “Liz” StraussWork with Liz on your business!!

Buy the Insider’s Guide to Online Conversation.

I’m a proud affiliate of