Philippine Literature 1 (PDF)

Literature 1 Finish your lunch. Let us start at 1:30pm.  “Great” 1. BUILDING THE WALL TOOK MORE THAN 1800 YEARS. 2. THE STRUCTURE ISN'T ONE CONSISTENT WALL, BUT A COLLECTION OF WALLS. 3. A SURPRISING INGREDIENT CAN BE FOUND IN THE WALL. 4. W...

Literature 1 Finish your lunch. Let us start at 1:30pm.  “Great” 1. BUILDING THE WALL TOOK MORE THAN 1800 YEARS. 2. THE STRUCTURE ISN'T ONE CONSISTENT WALL, BUT A COLLECTION OF WALLS. 3. A SURPRISING INGREDIENT CAN BE FOUND IN THE WALL. 4. WALL CONSTRUCTION WAS A COMMON PUNISHMENT FOR CHINESE CONVICTS. 5. ROOSTERS WERE BROUGHT TO THE GREAT WALL TO HONOR THE It is known as 'Great' because it is the largest island in the DEAD. British Isles, and houses the countries of England, Scotland and Wales within its shores. One of the world's greatest military generals, he created a vast empire that stretched from Macedonia to Egypt and from Greece to part of India. This allowed for Hellenistic culture to become widespread. Great Literature Small Group discussion What for you make/s Literature great? (Group discussion for 5 minutes) Great Literature Paz Latorena Paz Latorena (19 January 1908 - 19 October 1953) Born in Boac, Marinduque, Philippines She was one of the accomplished female writers in English during the pre-war era She spent her first three years of college at the University of the Philippines but transferred her senior year to the University of Santo Tomas (UST) where she completed an education degree in 1930. She became a popular short story writer whose works steadily gained recognition over the years. In 2000, UST published her only collection of short fiction, Desired and Other Stories. This publication came 47 years after she died. Paz Latorena In her senior year, Latorena transferred to the University of Sto. Tomas, from which institution she graduated in 1930 and where she subsequently enrolled for graduate studies. Her dissertation entitled “Philippine Literature in English: Old Voices and New” received a grade of sobre saliente, qualifying her for a doctoral degree in 1934. Paz Latorena By this time, Latorena had already joined the faculty, earning a reputation as a dynamic teacher. Among her many students were then-aspiring writers Juan Gatbonton, F. Sionil Jose, Nita Umali, Genoveva Edroza Matute and Zeneida Amador. Increasingly involved in academic work, Latorena wrote fewer stories and at longer intervals, publishing her last known story, “Miguel Comes Home”, in 1945. In 1953 while proctoring a final examination, Latorena suffered a cerebral hemorrhage which proved fatal. Literature vs. History Educating the Literary Taste It was a Spanish thinker and moralist, Baltazar Gracian, who first used and popularized the term, hombre de buen gusto, during the seventeenth century, although by it, he simply meant a tactful person. The adoption of the term in the aesthetic field took place in France, according to literary history, and La Biuyere affirms that during his time, discussions centered on good taste and bad taste until the term grew into wide use, and, by the beginning of the following century had established itself in Europe. Certainly Addison, in one of his essays published in the Spectator, defined literary taste as the discernment and appreciation of that which is fundamentally excellent in literature in another essay, he defined it as a faculty which discerns the beauties of literature with pleasure and its imperfections with dislike. These two definitions, according to Coleridge, make of literary taste a rational activity but with a distinctively subjective bias. It remained for Ruskin, however, to make the distinction, between literary taste and literary criticism with which it is being continuously confounded. He said that literary criticism is a formal action of the intellect, a deliberate search for perfections and imperfections by the application of universally accepted standards to a literary composition; on the other hand, taste is the instant, almost instinctive preferring of one literature to another, apparently for no other reason except that the first is more proper to human nature. To have literary taste, therefore, from the foregoing definition and distinctions, is to have a feeling and an inclination for what is fine and beautiful in literature, to savor and to appreciate it, and to dislike and reject what is vulgar and tawdry in it. 1. ARTISTRY- CREATIVITY APPEALS TO THE SENSE OF BEAUTY art for art’s sake craftsmanship form “how of a work” creative manner of the organization. COMPENDIUM 2. INTELLECTUAL VALUE 3. EMOTIONAL VALUE 4. MORAL/ETHICAL VALUE 5. TIMELESSNESS/ PERMANENCE. It remained for Ruskin, however to make the distinction, between literary taste and literary criticism with which it is being continuously confounded. He said that literary criticism is a formal action of the intellect, a deliberate search for perfections and imperfections by the application of universally accepted standards to a literary composition; on the other hand, taste is the instant, almost instinctive preferring of one literature to another, apparently for no other reason except that the first is more proper to human nature. To have literary taste, therefore, from the foregoing definition and distinctions, is to have a feeling and an inclination for what is fine and beautiful in literature, to savor and to appreciate it, and to dislike and reject what is vulgar and tawdry in it. There comes a time in the life of every man when he discovers for himself or is led to discover the wide and varied world of literature, a world as wide and varied as the life from which it draws its sustenance. It is a world of prose and poetry in which the interplay of human passions, the greatness and the misery of man, his heroism and his wickedness, his strength and his weakness, are portrayed with relentless analysis by those whose minds have probed human life to its deepest and most hidden springs of action. When he finds himself in that world, and eventually he will, man will stand in need of good literary taste. For unless he knows how to discriminate, how to separate truth from falsehood, good from bad, the specious from the true, the meretricious from the sincere; unless he knows how not to take the truth of the portrayal for the truth of the thing portrayed, unless he is convinced that aptness of expression and brilliance of diction do not turn falsehood into truth, his sense of literary values runs the risk of being falsified. “The medium is not the message.” Marshall Mcluhan TRUTH OF THE PORTRAYAL-- ARTISTRY “how” form TRUTH OF THE LITERATURE- CONTENT “what” meaning “Taste can be taught. It can be acquired by determined intercourse with good models.” What literary ideals, then, should the teacher emphasize? What literary standards should guide him in the selection of the literature, intercourse with which would develop good literary taste? In other words, what literary values make the literature that can serve that end? First,there is the intellectual value of literature. By intellectual value we mean something in a literary composition which makes the reader think to some purpose so that his mental life is enriched and enlarged as a result. appealing through the physical or the mind’s eye to the mind itself and setting up a train of ideas, consider intellectual content important? the quality that appeals to the human mind and enlarges it. (truth) From literature sans intellectual value, and therefore not literature at all, from literature that contains half-truths and falsified human values, from literature that leaves the reader unsatisfied, food taste should be trained to shrink from. Second, there is the emotional value of literature which is as significant as its intellectual value. An appeal to the emotions is the distinguishing mark of any literature worth its name. “feeling individuals.” EMOTIONAL POWER- a feeling person. gauge dumbfounded, stunned empathy- identification of feeling. “Greek drama”. awe purgation- pity and fear (catharsis) “Oedipus the King” The statement that literature should appeal to the noble and higher emotions invariably brings forth the question of what the nobles and higher emotions are. To which the answer is that they are those emotions and feelings and attitudes which are ours because we are human beings and not animals, those emotion which control our conduct as moral beings, those emotions that move us to right and happy living. And those are the emotions which a good literary taste instinctively looks for in literature and without which literature would have very little account for its being. Third, there is the moral/ ethical value of literature which has more frequently been a storm center than either of the other content values. morality of expression. morality of the theme Great writers have presented vice as attractive, but they have also presented the ashes into which that attractiveness turns, if we yield to its lure. Creative writing, emanating from and dealing with man’s experience, must have some reference to his conduct. And since we are men and not animals, since we are moral beings with a conscience, good literary taste demands that in all literature there should be found a positive influence that will bring us higher values, both as individuals and as members of a social order. Conclusion And good taste is not only a barrier but a means of devulgarization; a taste that is attuned to the fine and beautiful, a taste out of sympathy with the false and the ignoble, a taste that would be one of the instruments for richer living. SENSE OF DISCERNMENT UNIT I:BACKGROUND INTRODUCTION: GREAT WORKS (WHAT CONSISTS OF GREAT WORKS? UNIT II: CANONICAL WORKS (first group of works that are considered great based on intellectual and academic tradition “canon” scholars, intellectuals, professors, critics, literatis, genius, academicians “EUROCENTRIC” WESTERN (EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN INTELLECTUALS) “classic” CHARLES SAINTE- BEUVE According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, a classic is something that is “traditional or enduring” “timeless and timely.” The word classics has been used from the time of the Romans until today to describe the works in art, philosophy, and literature of the people of antiquity, or the ancient Greeks. The Romans only had the ancient Greeks to look to for examples and they tried to imitate their style in all of their artistic endeavors. Classics- “Greeks” and Roman literature. “TIMELESS because it is timely. Classical- harmony, restraint, order Since the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans their architecture, art, and literature have been lauded as works of greatness and have been emulated the world over. Because the works of the greats have been imitated throughout modern art and architecture and are still regarded as the best, they are remembered. The same can be said for classic literature. Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve Saint-Beuve revolutionized the way that literary critics look at literature by not only judging if a work of literature was good or bad, but by judging it by looking at it through historical, ethical, and philosophical viewpoints. He wanted to make readers of literature think for themselves rather than follow the opinions of the masses. His opinion on the definition of a classic is no different. He first states what he considers the traditional idea of what a classic is. He states, “A classic, according to the usual definition, is an old author canonised by admiration, and an authority in his particular style.” This idea fits the early definitions of what makes a classic. But not all old works have become classics or even been remembered. According to Saint-Beuve, there has to be something else, something significant about a work of literature that is the determining factor on whether or not it will be remembered. “A true classic (author), as I should like to hear it defined, is that which has enriched the human mind, increased its treasure, and caused it to advance a step; who has discovered some moral and not equivocal truth, or revealed some eternal passion in that heart where all seemed known and discovered; who has expressed his thought, observation, or invention, in no matter what form, only provided it be broad and great, refined and sensible, sane and beautiful in itself; who has spoken to all in his own peculiar style, a style which is found to be also that of the whole world, a style new without neologism, new and old, easily contemporary with all time.”  classic yet modern moral and not equivocal (ambiguous) truth emotional value open to all literary forms new and old common but uniquely different contemporary with all time Will Modern Literature Ever be Classic? When thinking about what makes literature classic, it is common to reflect upon the works of literature that are popular today. When looking at the literature of today the main thing that must be considered is if the work makes the reader think. If the author can manage to do that, and use themes that are enduring, they will be able to have their writing numbered among that of the great writers of the past. Although there are some gems of literary genius among dirty pebbles of forgettable writing, it is likely that much of the popular literature of today will not be remembered or mentioned in the literature classes of tomorrow. The probable reason for this is that many of these works of literature do not follow either the traditional definition of literature or the opinion of Saint-Beuve. There are only a select few that will ever truly be remembered in generations to come. TIMELESS AND TIMELY AUTHORITATIVE AND ENDURING FOREVER RELEVANT A canon refers to works that are considered to be representative of a certain genre, location, or period in history. One example of a work of literature that will surely be remembered is the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. Although this series of books may not be yet able to be considered classic literature, and may not hold up to the standards that scholars put on classic literature, it will be remembered for the effect that it had on thousands of young readers. Many reference the Harry Potter series when they talk about the work of literature that incited their love for reading. There are thousands of children, adults now, who can attribute their love of literature to a story about a young wizard that they grew to love. Harry Potter will likely become numbered among classic literature because of the grand effect that it had on children.