Debates rage over what kind of literature we should read, what is good and bad literature, and whether in the global, digital age, literature even has a future. But what exactly is literature? Why should we read literature? How do we read literature? These are some of the important questions J. Hillis Miller answers in this beautifully written and passionate book. He begins by asking what literature is, arguing that the answer lies in literature's ability to create an imaginary world simply with words. He describes how his early reading of The Swiss Family Robinson and Robinson Crusoe as a child led him to this view. He then discusses several famous writers who have used literature in this way, from Dostoevsky, Trollope, Proust and Henry James to Maurice Blanchot, Jacques Derrida and J. M. Coetzee. On Literature also asks the crucial question of why literature has such authority over us. Returning to Plato, Aristotle and the Bible, J. Hillis Miller argues we should continue to read literature because it is part of our basic human need to create imaginary worlds and to have stories. Above all, On Literature is a plea that we continue to read and care about literature.

J．希利斯·米勒（J.Hillis Miller），1928年生，哈佛大學博士。美國著名文學批評傢、歐美文學及比較文學研究的傑齣學者、解構主義批評的重要代錶人物。曾任教於霍普金斯大學、耶魯大學，現為厄灣加州大學英語與比較學係及批評理論研究所傑齣教授，主要代錶作有：《理論今昔》、《小說與重復》、《他者》等。