Literature in the 21st Century

Yesterday was my first college level literature class, "Literature in the 21st century". I'm not that big on grabbing hold of a book for recreational purposes. I didn't have much choice being that it's both required by my school, and also part of the requirements for my major. However, the first day didn't seem all that bad. I came in, sat down... the professor asked the the class as a whole, what is literature? After 10 minutes, the only words we each had individually agreed on were, written- words. We were wrong. He then drew a single line on the board asking if this was literature? I said to myself that there was no way a single, two foot long, 180 degree line, could be literature. I was wrong.

As we moved further into the three hour night class I started to realize that there was more to reading that met my eye. Different authors using separate settings to help you visualize the situation. Using different styles of writing, even breaking the "rules" of grammar to get more of a feel for the novel, poem, etc. As I read one of the readings given in class, "The Mercy Seat" by Niel LaBute, I get a feel of the dry sarcastic attitude between Abby and Ben. The date is September 12, 2001, just one day passed the tragic terrorist attack on 9/11, and Ben rather showing his emotion in this time of despair, holds it inside. This abhorrent Ben agitates Abby, not because of his loss for feeling, but because he sees this tragedy as an opportunity...