The article first considers the various senses of the terms “litera ture” and “work of literature,” as these terms are employed by the contemporary reader. Four major senses are distinguished:(a) “literature” by form, referring to specific formal textual features;(b) “literature” by value, referring to complex textual qualities or effects considered valuable by the reader;(c) “literature” by status, referring to a special cognitive and illocutionary status of the text, i.e. “fictionality;”(d) “literature” by reception, referring to a special mode of reception of the text.The article then discusses in detail the nature of (a) through (d), and the various subdivisions of each, and proposes sets of rules governing the actual employment of the term “literature” in each case. It goes on to discuss the interrelations between these different sets of rules, and concludes with a description of several borderline cases of “literature” and the role