What is literature?

The Landscape of Discourses until 1750/1850

spectrum of materials: predominantly scholarly publications
discussed in "histories of literature" (i.e. bibliographies of scientific publications) and in journals reviewing latest events in the republic of learning
geographical scope: international; competition of the nations, main languages: Latin and French
historical scope: progress in learning and comparison of ancient and modern learning

belles lettres = all fashionable and elegant pieces of learning including poetry and fiction

spectrum of materials: all fashionable publications such as novels, poems, plays, memoirs, (scandalous) histories
discussed mainly in prefaces to elegant works, exceptionally also in works of literature
geographical scope: European market, main language French
historical scope: comparison of ancient and modern elegance

spectrum of materials: poetic genres including prose comedy and all works performed with music such as operas, cantatas, masks, ballets
discussed in poetological works with a view on beauties of language and the observation of rules every art and genre has to follow
geographical scope: mostly on the main languages of poetry: (due to the inclusion of the opera) Italian and French
historical scope: search for the ultimate work in each language

fiction = stories to be read for their instruction and entertainment even if they should be feigned

spectrum of materials: romances = fictional prose histories of love and heroism presented in a series of adventures; novels = short stories related for the sake of the "point" they can "exemplarily" make, usually constructed around an intrigue leading to the surprising point
interpreted - after Huet’s Treatise on the Origin of Romances (1670) - as a cultural indicator
geographical scope: all cultures united by a world wide transmission of stories and fashions - great interest in foreign tastes
historical scope: all periods - growing interest in fashions of the past

The debate of learning adopts and appropriates discussions of the belles lettres, poetry and fiction - yet it changes practically all the discussions it adopts

it generates perspectives on the nations and their productions (the preceding debates of the belles lettres, poetry and fiction had concentrated on European market trends),
it focuses on the "poetic" (now "literary") genres according to Aristotelian precepts (a measure designed to move the international opera out of the field of potical works to be critically discussed),
it accepts a reformed novel as a "literary" genre as long as this novel can be read as a cultural indicator (a step designed to bar the European chronique scandaleuse from all further critical debates).

Traditional scientific journals offer additional reviews of literature on materials of the belles lettres, new literary journals follow with a focus on poetry, the belles lettres and fiction and change the concept of literature.
The debate of literature widens as the scope of materials under discussion is narrowed down to the nation's production of poems plays and novels
The secular school systems adopt the new concept of literature and win a topic to be taught through debates and a critical appeciation of the nation's canonical texts.
Authors have to decide whether they write

A new literary production of plays, poems and novels is written to receive the available public attention
The supply and demand of poems, plays and fiction grows enormously now that the markets of popular fiction and high literature are established as a battleground of public debates.
New literary histories are written and spread the notions that

literature has (due to its dependence on languages) always developed in national traditions
the "literary genres" have always formed a special field of "literary works"
literature, i.e. plays, poems and novels have always fulfilled certain ("eternal") purposes in our societies.

The sciences have developed their own specialised debates
The general discussion of literature focuses on a small field of poetic and fictional works which can, however, no longer be defined (due to fact that we can switch between all the debates we have adopted whenever we want to discuss something as "literature")
The question "What Is Literature?" now becomes a key question one can ask

to format the national canon
to keep materials out of our general debates of cultural phenomena
to promote discussions we could appropriate in order to spread (or to limit) our own debate of literature

Roland Barthes. "Histoire ou Litérature?" in R. Barthes, Sur Racine (Paris, 1963), p.155, first published in Annales, 3 (1960).
René Wellek. "Literature and its Cognates", Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Studies of Selected Pivotal Ideas 1-4, ed. Philip P. Wiener. New York, 1973, 3: p.81-89.
Paul Hernadi (ed). What Is Literature?. London, 1978. ISBN 0-253-36505-8
Jürgen Fohrmann. Projekt der deutschen Literaturgeschichte. Entstehung und Scheitern einer nationalen Poesiegeschichtsschreibung zwischen Humanismus und Deutschem Kaiserreich. Stuttgart, 1989. ISBN 3-476-00660-3
Rainer Rosenberg. "Eine verworrene Geschichte. Vorüberlegungen zu einer Biographie des Literaturbegriffs", Zeitschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik 77 (1990), 36-65.
Richard Terry. "The Eighteenth-Century Invention of English Literature. A Truism Revisited", Journal for Eigtheenth Century Studies 19.1 (1996).
Olaf Simons. Marteaus Europa oder Der Roman, bevor er Literatur wurde (Amsterdam/ Atlanta: Rodopi, 2001), p.85-94. ISBN 90-420-1226-9
Olaf Simons. "Why Literature Is Called Literature" Lecture at Rutgers University (April 12, 2007), mp3-file 37MB + html-Presentation