Literature as common understanding suggests that a representative body of texts is being admired and appreciated for its formal properties as well as its thematic agendas, which most would term vaguely as artistic or even aesthetic. If asked on the relevance of literature, the response would be that the study of literature is akin to appreciating the arts.

However, in the past few decades the notion of literature has itself been put under question by progressive theoretical debates, which have made it impossible to decide what literature is and should be. The point that relegates literature to a subordinate position as opposed to the other humanities like history, is the problematic set of fiction. Today after the collapse of idealism, what we have in a strange twist of events is the return of the importance of language. Perennial questions like what is truth and reality are once again thrown up, this time when we investigate literature. Where philosophy and later science, its successor have dominated this field of inquiry, literature seems to be this new platform for these very old questions. Literature in the mid previous century moved against its detractors in calling into question all forms of knowledge, because all discourses utilize language unavoidably as the main vehicle of communication. As a result, all books from political theories to psychology are regarded simply as different species of writing and hence, come under the purview of literature. Since literary studies involves analyzing writing itself, the field has widened to include other forms of writing instead of what is simply deemed as creative writing. Although, the core texts of literary studies have remained traditional that is fictional works, the methods and devices used are applied to non-fictional texts such as biography, journalistic writing etc.

Another point must be added in literature’s recent response to skeptics and that is, as all writing must pertain to a recognizable form of expression, the problem remains then, how valid is the truth content of so called non-fictional texts, when it is governed by pre-existing rules of expression? This discussion is an apt example of the fertile ground of modern literary theory, especially, the relationship between language and experience. Instead on dwelling on such contemporary problems of how a discourse like literary theory progressed out of the confusion of other disciplines, perhaps a historical look at literary studies must be revived; not in a nostalgic sense, but one that provides a definable shape where the future importance of Oprah Freedom book can be found. The study of Freedom Jonathan Franzen is the study of modes of communication. The texts of Freedom by Jonathan Franzen that are analyzed and discussed are literary texts. They can include any writing of stylistic merit and works that contribute to the body of human knowledge. The aim of which is to use this method setting up problems in other fields.