Authorship

Literary theme is a usefully loose notion, in at least two senses. As a theoretical term, it has flexibility that allows people to talk about certain aspects of literature—what literary works are about, how they hang together as works, what is important and good about them—without resolving further questions on which there is disagreement. The generality of theme contrasts with the less abstract kind of about-ness that depends on whatever events and experiences are depicted in a work, often referred to as the "subject". Theme has functions or roles both internal to a literary work and its interpretation and in relation to things outside the work. Considering the internal functions first, the theme or themes of a work, as what it is about at a general level, are taken to unify or integrate the work, with discrete elements of its subject matter being related in terms of theme.