What is literature and civilization?

What do literature and civilization mean and why would a class intertwine the two? I asked several people their thoughts on the topic. The results follow:

"Literature ugh they effect each other...symbiosis...ugh. They are a mutually beneficial and necessary relationship." -Will Hopper

He needed a few ughs to gather his thoughts but he came out with a great string of coherent words at the end. Good answer.

For diversity's sake I asked the older generation. Jim Lucas TCU class of 1948.

"Civilization and literature? What does it mean to me? I have never had to think about that in eighty something years. Well, civilization has to do with our life, and literature would be a reflection of that life. I don't have a clue. Give me a hint. You know my major at TCU was campusology and horizontal strategies and that question was never covered."

I believe that civilization is specific to the accomplishments of a society or group. Civilization denotes a group’s thoughts, technologies, and accomplishments that separate them from a barbaric state of hunting and gathering. That is why people will use the term civilized to describe a proper acting person and barbaric to describe the opposite. Therefore, literature would be something that separates a society from barbarism. By having literature in a society it becomes a civilization. I believe there can be no literature without civilization and no civilization without literature. My uncle hit on a similar thought in his answer below.

"Civilization, to me, began when people left the hunter gatherer lifestyle and became agrarian. We needed literature to pass along stories and history to maintain a consistent culture. “-Jaime Lucas TCU class of 1973.