Abstract
However loosely employed, the word "value" of literature commonly carries with it a clear suggestion of delimitation. Where is to be drawn the boundary-line? Classicists held that a great work is immortal. But literature must always vary by the human conditions. As an author writes his work in his proper situation, so readers also read it in their own situation of their own age. Both of them live in their perpetual pursuit of the same purpose : liberty. Therefore, the value of literature consists in "how often can the work find its public?". To establish personal intercourse between the author and the readers should thus be the primary and constant purpose of our treatise.
