21st Century Literature Review PDF

**REVIEWER: 21^st^ CENTURY LITERATURE** - **World Literature -** refers to any written literary genre that exemplifies the most outstanding characteristics of particular national literatures. It is harder to define and only few regional or national writers can also be classified as be...

**REVIEWER: 21^st^ CENTURY LITERATURE** - **World Literature -** refers to any written literary genre that exemplifies the most outstanding characteristics of particular national literatures. It is harder to define and only few regional or national writers can also be classified as belonging to world literature due to **limited outstanding characteristics.** Literature with **outstanding characteristics from different nationalities.** - The main difference between national literature and world literature is that national literature is specific to a country or time period, while world literature is accessible to people from many cultures, ethnicities, and societies. **It encompasses outstanding characteristics from various nations** - **Regional poets -** refers to writers limited to a specific region or nation - **Elements of World Literature** - Tackles *universal theme* to which wider audiences/readers can relate or identify with - - - - - - - **Prevalent themes in 21st Century World Literature** - proliferation of vampires - sorcery - space and science fiction - **The Little Prince --** a **novella** written by **Antoine de Saint-Exupéry,** an aristocrat, pilot, poet and writer, a much-loved classic extolling the virtues of love, inner beauty and friendship. - **Famous quote:** *\"One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eyes.\"* - **ASIAN LITERATURE** **Asian literature** refers to literature written over thousands of years in various Asian countries. The **literary type of Asian writing** was usually determined by the surrounding, culture of time and often expresses the ideologies prevalent in the era. Some researchers choose a straightforward **division of Asian literature**, categorizing the mass of literature under **Chinese, Japanese and Indian literature** based on the longevity and influence of the literary traditions of these countries. - **CHINESE literary** works include fiction, philosophical and religious works, poetry, and scientific writings - **Lishu** is a ***clerical script or chancery script, is a truly calligraphic script type***, making full use of the flexible brush to modulate the thickness of the line. Clerical script was frequently used in preparing official records and documents, and it was utilized for both public monuments and private correspondence. - **Lushi** -- a form of Chinese poetry that flourished in the Tang dynasty (618--907). ***It consists of eight lines of five or seven syllables, each line set down in accordance with strict tonal patterns*** - **Jueju -** Chinese quatrain, is a type of jintishi (\"modern form **poetry**\") ***it is a four-line poem***, each line of which ***consists of five or seven words.*** It omits either the first four lines, the last four lines, the first two and the last two lines, or the middle four lines of the lüshi. - **JAPANESE LITERATURE --** is one of the **major literatures** of the world comparable to **English literature** in age and variety. Also, one of the major bodies of Oriental Literature. It is less voluminous than Chinese Literature but comparable to Arabic, Persian and Indian Literature. Only fragments (partial) of this literature have survived, but these are thought to have been extensive. - **HAIKU -** A basic form of Japanese poetry, a short poem with a specific structure and no set rhyme scheme. Made up of three lines of 5-7-5 syllables, totaling 17 syllables:  - **TANKA** - is a Japanese poem that is made up of 31 syllables in five lines with the following syllable count: 5, 7, 5, 7, and 7 - **CHOKA --** type of waka, are made up of alternating lines of five and seven syllables, with an extra line of seven syllables at the end. The total length of a choka poem is not set.  - **RENGA -** is a genre of Japanese collaborative poetry in which alternating stanzas, or ku (句), of 5-7-5 and 7-7 mora per line, consists of alternating haiku and couplets, with each stanza written by a different person. - **INDIAN LITERATURE** is a body of works produced in India in a variety of vernacular languages like Sanskrit, Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, and Urdu. Refer to literature produced across the Indian subcontinent prior to the creation of the Republic of India in 1947 and within the Republic of India after 1947 - **MAHABHARATA -** An **Indian epic written in Sanskrit**. Longest poem in history with about **100 000 couplets.** Hindus regard the epic as both a text about drama and a history - **RAMAYANA -** Shorter than Mahabharata with some 2400 couplets. The family is important in Indian literature and drama. Both the *Mahabharata* and *Ramayana* - the two most famous works of Indian literature and theater--- are family epics, featuring cousins, uncles and aunts "struggling and killing each other over land and dharma and then mourning inconsolably. - **PANCHATANTRA -** Collection of Indian Animal Fables, originally written in Sanskrit and it is a **mixture of prose and verse.** The fable-like stories are full of humor and sagely advice**.** - **ENGLISH LITERATURE** - **Characteristics of Old English:** - Extensive use of case endings - Language and the literature of Anglo-Saxon - Mixture of pagan traditions, thought about life, the universe and nature, Christian thought and moral values - Earliest for of English language - Use of ***kennings***- which are phrases or compound words used to name persons, places, and things indirectly - **Use of Kennings:** - To enhance poetic expression - Paint a visual image for the reader - To add extra layer of description, richness and meaning - **Beowulf -** longest epic poem, oldest known Old English poem consisting of **3,182 alliterative lines**. It is known for the use of kennings. Its primary theme is about heroism and loyalty. The Old English period ended around 1150 AD, when the Middle English period began:  - - - - The **Norman Conquest of 1066** by William, Duke of Normandy, **marked the end of the Old English period**. The arrival of the Normans added **French influence** to the English language, which developed into Middle English.  Old English was a West Germanic language, closely related to German, Dutch, and Frisian. It had four dialects: Northumbrian, Mercian, Kentish, and West Saxon. The Normans brought with them a sophisticated courtly culture, which influenced the English aristocracy and the emerging literary traditions. The ideals of chivalry, courtly love, and romance, which were central to Norman **French culture**, found their way into Middle English literature. - **The Impact of the Norman Conquest.** With the Normans came not only a new ruling class but also a new language:** Norman French.** The influence of French on English during this period was profound, reshaping its vocabulary, grammar, and even its pronunciation - **Middle English** was the English language spoken in England and Wales from around 1100 to 1500. It was the intermediary stage between Old English and Modern English. - **Geoffrey Chaucer -** considered the father of English literature - **The Canterbury Tales-** a novel example of literature written in Middle English, written by Geoffrey Chaucer - **Epic poem** -- This is a long narrative poem usually about a hero and his deeds. Example: ***Beowulf*** - - - **Novel** -- This is a long prose narrative usually about fictional characters and events, which are told in a particular sequence or in a ***chronological order.*** - **LATIN AMERICAN LITERATURE** American literature consists of the oral and written literature of Latin America in several languages, particularly in Spanish, Portuguese, and the indigenous languages of the Americas as well as literature of the **United States** written in the Spanish language. It rose to particular prominence globally during the second half of the **20th century**, largely **due to the international success of the style known as [magical realism].** In Latin America in the 1940s**, magical realism **was a way to express the realistic American mentality and create an autonomous style of literature. Magical realism is a literary style that blends fantasy into everyday life. - **Pre-Columbian** cultures were **primarily oral.** Oral accounts of mythological and religious beliefs were also sometimes recorded after the arrival of European colonizers. - **Criollo-** locally born individuals with European ancestry - **Libertadores-** refers to the principal leaders of the Latin American wars of independence from Spain and Portugal. - **The 19th century** was a period of **\"foundational fictions".** Novels in the Romantic or Naturalist traditions attempted to establish **a sense of national identity,** and which often focused on the indigenous question or the dichotomy of \"civilization or barbarism." - **In the late 19^th^century**, ***modernismo*** emerged, a poetic movement whose founding text was the Nicaraguan **Rubén Darío\'s "*Azul*** ("1888). - **After World War II**, Latin America enjoyed **increasing economic prosperity**, and a new-found confidence also gave rise to a **literary boom**. From **1960 to 1967**, some of the major seminal works of the **boom** were published. - **Post-Boom literature** is sometimes characterized by a tendency towards **irony** and towards the use of popular **genres**. - **AFRICAN LITERATURE** The most notable literary selections are those that capture the **[life and struggle] of the African people. Traditional languages** became **vehicles of cultural thoughts.** Around a **hundred languages** are widely used for inter-ethnic communication. **Arabic, Somali,Berber,Oromo, Igbo, Amharic, Swahili, Hausa, Manding, FulanI and Yoruba **are spoken by tens of millions of people. **[Poetry], [drama], [novel], and [short story]** [ ] flourished as the literary genres **African literature-** The people's struggle to cope with -- or oppose -- the changing atmosphere of their homelands was dramatically recorded - **Controversial issues addressed in African literature:** 1. racial discrimination, apartheid (was a system of institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination in South Africa between 1948 and 1991) 2. political conflicts 3. civil wars, 4. feminism and gender sensitivity, 5. human rights issues. - **NEGRITUDE -** the self-affirmation of black people, or the affirmation of the values of civilization of something defined as "the black world". Negritude emerged out of **\"[a sudden grasp of racial identity and of cultural values and an awareness ]**\"of the wide discrepancies which existed between the promise of the French system of assimilation and the reality.\" In the 1930s, black intellectuals from French colonies living in Paris initiated this literary movement. Negritude writers wrote **poetry in French** in which they presented **African traditions and cultures as antithetical, but equal, to European culture.** - Out of this philosophical/literary movement came the creation of ***Presence Africaine*** by Alioune Diop in 1947. The **journal, according to its founder, was an endeavor \"to help define African originality and to hasten its introduction into the modern world."** - **TWO Literary Forms** 1. **Oral Literature -** also called **orature** which includes [folk tales], [myths], [epics], [funeral dirges], [praise poems], and [proverbs]. - **Myths -** explain the interrelationships of all things that exist - **Epics -** are elaborate literary forms, usually **performed only by experts on special occasions.** They often recount the heroic exploits of ancestors. - **Dirges -** chanted during funeral ceremonies, lament the departed, praise his/her memory, and ask for his/her protection. - **Praise poems -** are epithets called out in reference to an object in celebration of its outstanding qualities and achievements. - **Proverbs -** are short, witty or ironic statements, metaphorical in its formulation which aim to communicate a response to a particular situation, to offer advice, or to be persuasive 2. **Written Literature -** includes [novels], [plays], [poems], [hymns], and [tales] - **THREE waves of Literacy in Africa** 1. **Ethiopia -** earliest literatures in the Celtic and Germanic languages of Western Europe. 2. **Africa -** spread of Islam 3. **Europe -** through trade relationships, missionary activities, and colonialism propelled the third wave of literacy in Africa - **[literatures of testimony -]** written literatures, novels, plays, and poems in the 1950s and 60s - **[literatures of revolt -]** African authors who produced literatures in European languages - **CRITICAL READING STRATEGIES** - **CRITICAL READING** - has an **academic or professional purpose**. Unlike reading for pleasure, it requires **critical thinking skills like doing analysis, developing an argument, and doing an evaluation**. Critical reading strategies in literature vary in purpose and focus. - **CRITICAL READING STRATEGIES:** 1. **Previewing a Text** (enables a reader to get the sense of what the text is all about and how its parts are organized) 2. **Contextualizing** (considering the time and place in which the text was produced) 3. **Asking Questions** (allows one to understand and remember the content of a piece of literature) 4. **Reflecting** (involves examination of the reader's personal responses to the text) 5. **Making an Outline and Summary** (involves identifying its important ideas) 6. **Evaluating the Argument** (involves assessing the validity of its claim and support) 7. **Making a Comparison and Contrast of Related Text** (strategy of identifying the similarities and differences between texts of similar issue or approach) 8. **Summary**