The 'The Literature'

The odd scholar who actually has original ideas is stymied by censorious references to 'the literature', as in, 'your work doesn't take 'the literature' into account.' Given any idea, there is a corresponding legitimate body of work. But this is not what professors are referring to when they refer to 'the literature': they are referring to a bureaucratic paper-trial that leads nowhere and whose only purpose seems to be to suppress actual thought.