What is Literature?

Literature Definition

• Literature originates from the Latin term "litterae," signifying "things made from letters."
• It can also be described as an acquaintance with letters.
• Literature is defined as a "performance in words" (Robert Frost).
• Literature is also "writings which interpret the meanings of nature and life, in words of charm and power, touched with the personality of the author in artistic forms of permanent interest" (Henry Van Dyke).
• This definition is used to describe compositions that deal with life experiences.
• Literature is language providing insights and intellectual stimulation.
• Literature is a cultural product concretizing values, emotions, actions, and ideas.
• It is art reflecting imagination, aesthetics, and creative writing, distinguished by beauty of style/expression in fiction, poetry, essay, or drama, unlike scientific works.

Qualities of snapshots from a pandemic poem

• The poem reflects life during a crisis.
• It has qualities forming its general sense.
• It is creative, artistically appealing, conveys hidden truth/beauty, and has intellectual value.
• The poem is suggestive, conveying emotional power with nuances, symbolism, implied meanings, imagery, and messages.
• The piece illustrates universal themes, shared experiences, common desires and expectations that can cross barriers.
• The material is permanent and can stand the test of time to be read by future generations.

Key Elements of Literature

• Form
• Expression
• Ideas
• Widespread/ Lasting Interest

Functions of Literature:

• It helps to express one's self.
• Literature is used to instruct.
• Literature serves to delight.
• Literature actively shapes our culture.
• It constructs and articulates socio-cultural realities for reader interaction.
• Literature is used to empower engagement with the world.
• It develops mature sensibility and compassion.
• Literature encourages one to appreciate beauty.
• Literature allows development of goals, values and clarify identity.
• It has the power to develop wider perspective of events.

Literary Conventions

• They are so widely understood that authors expect audiences to accept them.

Literary Canons

• Works generally agreed upon by critics as masterpieces that appear in anthologies and course syllabi.

Literary Criticism

• Descriptions, analyses, interpretations, and evaluations of literature using philosophical or ideological viewpoints.

Why Read Literature?

• Reading for Vicarious Escape:
• Literature offers narratives allowing escape from everyday problems.
• Literature allows participation in experiences radically different from our own.
• Examples include spy stories; detective fiction; science fiction; historical novels.
• Reading is fun.
• Classics and paperback pulps detach us from time/place, transporting us to imaginary worlds.
• Literature flourishes because of the freedom and escape it allows.
• It is important to ask what allows works that may not seem like "escape" to survive over time.
• Reading to Learn:
• Literature offers "knowledge" as part of the author's re-created world.
• It serves as a social document, giving insight into the laws, customs, attitudes of the time it was written.
• Literature broadens our knowledge of the world, but not all of it is valuable and should be verified.
• Reading to Confront Experience:
• Has a relation to human experience.
• Is simultaneously an act of clarification and discovery.
• Literature allows us to overcome limitations of subjectivity imposed by factors like sex, age, and socioeconomic conditions.
• Literary characters offer access to a range of human experiences.
• Readers observe characters’ private and public lives, including thoughts, feelings, and motivations.
• The intimacy of this access explains why psychologists have found literature a rich source for case studies.
• The relationship between literature and experience is reciprocal, shaping attitudes and expectations.
• If readers are sensitive and perceptive, they can enhance the quality/direction of their lives.
• The effects vary but a work's ability to affect the reader marks it as "great".
• Fiction, drama, and poetry help explain the survival of classics.
• They offer readers opportunities to clarify/modify their views.
• They also shed life on the complexity and ambiguity of human existence.
• Reading for Aesthetic Pleasure:
• Literature can be read for the pleasure in good craftsmanship.
• "A thing of beauty is a joy forever" (John Keats).
• Well-ordered words are a form of immortality.
• A poem, play, or novel is a self-contained work of art, approached and appreciated on unique terms.
• What distinguishes literature from other artistic expressions is its reliance on structure and style in language.
• Sensitive readers respond to well-chosen words, resulting in a sense of pleasure or delight.

Literature Elements

• Literature comes from "LITERA" (Latin), meaning acquaintance with letters.
• Literature is a body of literary productions (oral, written, or visual) with imaginative language that realistically portrays thoughts and emotions.
• Creating literature is uniquely human.
• Literature is language that provides insight and intellectual stimulation.
• Literature is a special kind of language deliberately structured to have artistic qualities.
• The translation medium is language, written and spoken.
• Literature concretizes values, emotions, actions, and ideas of a particular culture.
• Literature reflects imagination, aesthetics, and creative writing.
• Literature is "a concrete artifact a story, a poem, or a play."

Literary Standards

• Universality: Appeals to everyone, regardless of culture, race, sex, and time.
• Artistry: Has aesthetic appeal and a sense of beauty.
• Intellectual Value: Stimulates critical thinking and enriches mental processes.
• Suggestiveness: Unravels emotions to define symbolisms and evoke visions.
• Spiritual Value: Elevates the spirit and motivates/inspires.
• Permanence: Endures across time (timeliness and timelessness).
• Style: Evidenced by the formation of ideas, forms, structures, and expressions.

Literary Models

• Cultural Model: Understand and appreciate different cultures/ideologies.
• Language Model: Promote language development.
• Personal Growth Model: Achieve lasting pleasure.

Classifications of Literature

• Structure:
  • Fiction: Imaginative narration for entertainment and reader engagement.
  • Non-Fiction: "Real life" narration based on facts/history for intellectual appeal.
• Form:
  • Prose: Written or spoken language in common sentences/paragraphs.
  • Poetry: Expressed in verse with rhythm, sound, and imaginative language for emotional response.
• Genre:
  • Fiction: Narrative in prose showing recreation of life in two levels (objective and subjective reality).
  • Poetry: Patterned expression of ideas with rhythm, sound, and structure.
  • Essay: Prose composition presenting a viewpoint.
  • Drama: Composition for performance before an audience.
• Literary text involves:
  • Use of language to be read and understood.
  • Artistic sensibility in a literary genre.
  • Relation to socio-historical context.
  • Semiotic construct with devices for interpretation.

Literature Genre and 21st century Counterparts

• Essay: Blog, short memoir.
• Novel: Illustrated novels, graphic novels, manga, text-talk novels, speculative fiction, chick lit.
• Short Story: Doodle fiction, digi-fiction, speculative fiction, chick lit, flash fiction.
• Drama: Theatrical adaptation, film.
• Poetry: Hyperpoetry, text tula, fliptop/rap battle, spoken word poetry, graphic poetry.

Essay

• Essay (French essai) means trial or test.
• It is a composition on a single topic from a limited point of view.
• Essay explains and gives details in order to explain or elucidate.
• It is an ideal medium for transforming human conditions, attempting for reformation through personal expression.
• Elements of Essay: Idea, motive, structure, evidence, explanations, coherence, implication, presence.

General Types of Essays:

• Strict or Impersonal: Authoritative, scholarly on serious topics.
• Casual or Familiar: Light, conversational, and friendly.

Basic Parts of an Essay:

• Introduction: Hints or relates to the main thesis.
• Main Body: Discusses and illustrates main ideas.
• Conclusion: Presents generalization or insights.

Major Patterns an Essay Follows:

• Inductive Pattern: Presents ideas to lead to a general principle.
• Deductive Pattern: Develops ideas from a general hypothesis to particular proofs.