The Use and Abuse of Literature

In this deep and engaging meditation on the usefulness and uselessness of reading in the digital age, Harvard English professor Marjorie Garber aims to reclaim "literature" from the periphery of our personal, educational, and professional lives and restore it to the center, as a radical way of thinking.

But what is literature anyway, how has it been understood over time, and what is its relevance for us today? Who gets to decide what the word means? Why has literature been on the defensive...