Language Department
IPGK Pendidikan Teknik
Based on your experience learning literature, what is literature? What are the characteristics of literature?
Do you need to learn literature?
• Traditionally, literature is
“imaginative”
writing.
• However, the distinction between
“real” and “fake” or
“fact” and “fiction” isn’t always a good distinction; many classical works were non-fiction.
Literature is Subjective
• Since the 1980’s, the “literary canon” of works – a group of works “agreed upon” to be “the best” by well-known scholars and critics, has been disputed. Why do you think the “canon” was disputed? • The “Canon” excluded most works that were not by white, European males.
• Works of literature by women, homosexuals, and works by individuals of varied races, classes and ethnicities were marginalised.
How did this happen?
• There are many ways of “writing” – but those in power recognised only one, formal way of “writing”, and this was given the higher value.
• Thus, the literary “canon” is a construct; it was fashioned by particular people for particular reasons at a particular time.
• There is no literary work or tradition that has value in and of itself …
• ….even Shakespeare!
• In his era, Shakespeare was regarded as a hack! • Time and circumstance has offered the value to particular text; and this “value” is a transitive term – it will change as the people in power change and are altered, and according to the context of the reading of a particular text.
10 years ago ….
• BLOGS were stupid.
• NOW, Iraq War Veterans’ BLOGS are considered vital historic and
“literary” documents!
Revisioning the Canon:
• All “literary” works are unconsciously rewritten by the societies that read them. Context
• Readers interpret literary works in the light of their own concerns.
• Readers interpret literary works in the light of a given circumstances.
• Readers interpret literary works in the light of a given time period.
The Diary of Anne Frank:
• Literature? Or Not?
I Have A Dream:
• Is this speech by Martin Luther King,
Jr. Literature? Or Not?
Literature and “value”
• Each of us is constructed by experiences and backgrounds and emotions and ideas and prejudices and knowledge and lack of knowledge
…
• How we each respond to a particular text is deeply entwined with our broader prejudices and belief systems.
Basic Definition of Literature
• Latin – litterae (plural for letter)
• Literally means “acquaintance with letters”
Why Do We Study Literature? • To obtain a window of the world and other cultures. • To understand ourselves (how?). • To gain insights into a character’s inner thoughts, conflicts, aspirations etc. • To actively shape culture through the active and articulate constructions of sociocultural realities.
So … what is literature?
• What constitutes a “literary” text?
• What qualities will help me to determine the “literariness” of a text?
• Read “What is Literature” by
Jim Meyer for our class discussion this Thursday.
Thank You
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