The notion of literariness is not part of the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ). However, the term is used in philology and other sciences to refer to the set of aesthetic and linguistic qualities and properties that allow a text to be classified as literary .
A literary text belongs to the field of literature . At the same time, literature is an art . It can be stated that literariness is what makes the inclusion of a text in literature possible and, therefore, turns it into an artistic manifestation.
The narration of a fictional story , the use of language for aesthetic purposes and writing in verse are features that usually give a work literary character. Although they may appear in other types of content, in literary texts they are used more widely and are given a predominant role.
It is important to consider that, although literariness contributes to differentiating between what is literature and what is not , it is not linked to the quality of said literature. Just because a narrative is literary does not mean that it is good literature.
Literary nature, in short, is the specificity of a literary work . It is given by various elements that cause a text to be taken as a literary fact .
One of the most common features of literariness is connotative language , which for many constitutes the basis of this language. In short, it is the large number of possible interpretations of the same message according to the context of the work and the recipient himself (in this case, the reader).
In other words, the words of a literary text are evocative, that is, their meaning does not rigidly depend on what the dictionary can teach us. The state of mind, emotions, knowledge and passions of the person who receives them come into play in their interpretation.
Nor should we fail to mention polysemy , another of the fundamental elements of literariness. The study of its etymology reveals that it means "many signs." In practice, it is about the possibility of associating the same term with two or more meanings, generating an ambiguity that enriches the work and the reader's experience.
Literary literature is also associated with the predominant presence of the poetic function , to generate an influence in the reader's state of mind that leads him to experience different sensations and emotions. Another characteristic of literariness is the play with syntax , treating its rules with a certain flexibility if this allows us to achieve the desired effects. A frequent example of this resource is the inversion of the considered correct order of words.
All this brings us to expressive vocabulary : although words can acquire "special" meanings and break the rules of syntax as the writer deems necessary, this does not mean that they are interchangeable, but rather that they must be chosen very precisely to achieve a powerful determined expressive, which is affected if they are replaced by others.
Figures of speech are other characteristics of literariness that distinguish it from informal discourse. Among the most frequent we can mention comparison, metaphor, anaphora, prosopopoeia, antithesis and hyperbaton. Its use must be balanced and must be justified by the writer's objectives; As in any field, excess does not bring good results.
One should not confuse between literariness and literality . The concept of literality refers to the condition of literal , an adjective that qualifies what conforms to the precise meaning or letter of a text.