Benefits of reading literary text

In my opinion, there are many benefits of reading literary text. One of them is reading literary text for pleasure or enjoyment. By reading literary text, we can get pleasure because literary text usually provides the entertaining values which is written in it. Sometimes, there are non-literary values on the contain of literary text. E.g. the novels that provide science, “Da Vinci Code novel” which is written by Dan Brown provides the numerology and symbology. Not only provide art values, but also the others knowledge. Hopefully, the readers can use those knowledge which is be the content of the certain literary text then. By reading literary text, we can get many new vocabularies and idioms. Then, we can use these in our conversation. So, we can make our speaking English or our ability in English better. Literary text also can make the readers have ability in identifying the literary text. By identifying the literary text, we can get the messages which is implicitly to be told in the story. E.g. we can get the message from “Cat in the Rain“ , that is we have to love and care the God’s creatures ( cat in “Cat in the Rain”). It informs the readers elements of reading itself, not by instructing them explicitly but by providing a pleasurable occasion for practicing or doing the message from literary text. E.g. novels that not only write the fiction story, but also write religion, education, or moral values.

Reading literature exposes the learners to language being used in unconventional ways. Sometimes, literary text informs the readers about culture, life style, habit of place or people where the target language is used. In the “Cat in the Rain”, the readers can know that the culture or habit of Italian to say hello to a woman with saying “Signora”. The readers can practise and develop the ability of analysis the literary text by using figurative language in literature. It can be related to practise to use imaginative skills. By reading literary text, the readers also imagine the people’s appearance, personality which is explicitly and implicitly told in the story. We can learn the kind of personalities from the other people with reading literary text. The literary text also informs the readers about the appearance or condition of certain place that is written in the story. In the “Cat in the Rain”, we can use our imaginative skill to imagine the condition of public garden, war monument, sea, or bedroom in the hotel. In “Harry Potter novels”, the writer “J.K.Rowling” asks the readers to use their highest imagination for understanding and enjoying the story. The certain places that is written in the literary text can be enlarge our knowledge about location. E.g. in “Ayat-Ayat Cinta” that is written by Habiburrahman El Shirazy, there are many things about the condition and places in Egypt. “Angel and Demon novel” informs us about many places in Vatican, and fact that really happen there. So, reading literary text is not only to get the pleasure, but also to get knowledge.(Resty,29.09.2007)