Part of being well read is being able to define what the 'this' you mention is and to articulate why you think 'this' is not good enough or is sublime either by using well defined terms and concepts (like control of time, narrative flow, definition of characters, the evocation of the Sanskrit 'rasa') or dipping into one's own inventive abilities to define a new concept for what you're trying to describe, something very common in philosophy.
My field is music, in which your reductions do not apply, but I will not insult literature by assuming that they apply there either. "Well defined" is the original mirage.
