Identical questions arise when atte

Identical questions arise when attempts are made to define a literary work as a work of verbal art. Some theoreticians attempt to define literature “objectively” by reducing the distinctiveness of literature to the distinctiveness of its language. Imagery, or figurativeness (Bildlichkeit), is most frequently mentioned as the particular characteristic of literary language. The concept of imagery itself need not necessarily be part of the linguistic sphere. Certain theoreticians separate the image as a representation existing in the mind of the author or the reader from its linguistic carrier. It ought to be pointed out, though, that the image thus understood can be the subject of literary studies only in so far as it is determined by linguistic means.