“All great literature either founds a genre or dissolves one”
— Walter Benjamin
Simplified Meaning:
Great literature either starts a new type of writing or changes an old one so much that it becomes something new. For example, think about the Harry Potter series. Before it, there were stories about wizards and magic, but J.K. Rowling's books created a whole new kind of world and a fresh way to look at these stories. She combined adventure, magic, and school life in a way no one had seen before, inspiring many other books and even movies. On the other hand, consider a writer like James Joyce. His book "Ulysses" took what people knew about novels and completely turned it upside down. He used a new style of writing that made people rethink how stories could be told. This type of change shows how powerful literature can be in transforming our ideas about storytelling. So, when someone writes something truly special, it either sets the stage for new stories or changes our old ideas so much that literature itself evolves. This means anyone aiming to write something new and exciting should not just follow old patterns but try to introduce fresh ideas or ways of telling their tales.
