What counts as literature?

What exactly is literature? Some people might claim that any written work, from poetry to science, is literature. On the other end of the scale are those who believe literature to be only the most time-enduring and high quality pieces of creative work. Most people would probably be more inclined to agree with the latter opinion: for example, the works of Shakespeare, Austin, Chaucer, and Dickens would be classed as literature, but 'Harry Potter' wouldn't.

Personally, I would say that a text must be creatively written in order to count as literature, but that's still very broad. Are children's picture books literature? Are manga and comics? How about fanfiction? You can see how it's such a difficult concept to classify. Even more established literary modes of writing, such as novels, contain so much variety that it's impossible to draw any sort of definitive line between literature and not. I do not, however, think that literature is confined to novels, plays, and poetry; any creative form that uses language to tell a story or express emotion is literature, in my opinion. That includes works that are made up of a combination of words and images -- or even words and music.

I certainly don't think a text has to be of a certain age in order to have a literary status. Old writing is not necessarily better writing. In fact, we should theoretically have become better writers now, with modern communication making the sharing of techniques and ideas practically instant. I will fight to the death with anyone who claims that the authors I love aren't literary because they're modern -- if you don't think authors such as John Green write literature, then I will argue vehemently against that claim.

Literature, to me, is not necessarily of a certain quality, a certain, time period, a certain format, because it is an art. Art is subjective. The way we create it and the way we interpret it are all subjective. It is unfair to give one text a universally higher status than another, because some people would say that 'Twilight' is a better love story than 'Romeo and Juliet'. While I may not agree with them, I believe they have the freedom to like whatever they enjoy, and to call it literature if they wish to.