What is literature to all of you?

As a warm-up for the upcoming essay we should all put what our basic ideas have been and see where that takes us. Here's mine:
Literature is the compilation of our darkest struggles and our greatest triumphs; it is the union of practical thought with a world created in our minds, it combines the human experience with the wonders of our imagination; it explains tangible concepts by intangible means; it is a portal to another time and place, and it is a reflection of our culture, and more importantly - our inner most selves.
So what do you think? agree? disagree? comments? And what is your literature?
                                                                                                                                                           Chris W.

Alice in Wonderland Drug Referencing

Although Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by novelist Lewis Carrol is not admittedly proclaimed to be a drug-related novel, references and quotes such "down the rabbit hole" give the story a connotation that can easily be related to the hallucinogenic drug commonly known as LSD. As the main character, Alice sits next to a river bank while her older sister reads to her she begins to drift into a dream-like state; while in this dreamy state, Alice sees a white rabbit run past her dressed in a coat and carrying a clock. Her dreamy hallucination implies that Alice is experiencing phenomena that seems other-worldly even before entering Wonderland.

While slowly falling, literally and figuratively, through time down the rabbit hole, strange objects float past her. The deeper she falls down the hole and into a different state of mind, the more strange and random the objects are.

Falling down the rabbit hole is now a common term for entering a sub-conscious state of hallucinations after inducing LSD. The novel helped develop appropriate slang for the mind-altering drug. Psychedelic rock group Jefferson Airplane released and acid rock single titled "White Rabbit" which refers to the novel by Lewis Carrol in its lyrics.

Roberto L.