Lecture Introduction To World Literature

Introduction to World Literature
Background
➢ Cultural heritage of all humanity
➢ Circulation of works into the wider world beyond the country of origin
➢ Commonality of the human spirit and experience across cultures
➢ Includes oral traditions, poetry, fiction, essay and drama
➢ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a German writer and statesman introduced the term
“world literature” (weltliteratur) in 1827. Goethe studied the features and
interrelationships of different national literatures, the tendencies of their development and
their achievements.
Definition
➢ “acquaintance with letters”
➢ A branch of aesthetics and philosophy
➢ Written in prose or verse
➢ Different meanings depending on who is using it and in what context
➢ Imaginative or creative
➢ Webster defines literature as “all writings in prose or verse, especially those of an

imaginative or critical character”.
➢ It is about the experiences – records of man’s everyday struggle for life.
Diverse Definitions of Literature

1. Aristotle: Literature is an imitation of a sequence of events. Viewing or reading literature
facilitates the expression (pushing out) of undesirable emotions. (“Poetics”)
2. Horace: Literature is an imitation of events or objects as to render a “golden” world.
Literature ought to delight, instruct, and inspire the reader. (“An Apology for Poesy”)
3. Longinus: Literature is written work that causes or fails to cause the experience of the
sublime – awe attached to terror. (“On the Sublime”)
4. Pope: Literature is an imitation of a nature that is executed not by copying nature directly
but rather by imitating the works and techniques of previous writers who are somehow
“close” to nature and to the original. (“An Essay on Criticism”)
5. Plato: Literature is an imitation of an idea that exists originally in the mind of God.
6. Shlovsky: Literature defamiliarizes the familiar; that is, it caused us to see the ordinary in
a way that jolts us our automatic ways of perceiving and acting. (“Art as Technique”)
Historical Backgrounds and Literary Developments

The Golden Age
➢ Literature started in the ancient Greece and Rome and they were considered as “classic
masterpieces”.
➢ It lasted from 431 – 461 BC
➢ Brilliant art, literature and architecture were produced
➢ Earliest Greek literature was “oral”
➢ Socrates, Plato and Aristotle lived and taught during the golden age.
➢ The Greeks created many literary forms, including tragedy, comedy, philosophical
dialogue and poetry.
➢ The most common forms were myths and fables.
➢ The second half od this era was called the “Age of Augustus”.
➢ Roman’s greatest literature came out of this period including the poems of Virgil and
Ovid.
The Anglo-Saxon Period
➢ Lasted for more than 600 years
➢ Became the basis of English culture
➢ Old English was eventually developed
➢ Christianity was brought to England
➢ Anglo-Saxon literature was oral
➢ Literature records difficulties that people endured and heroic struggles to survive.
➢ The Anglo-Saxo Chronicle and Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English people are
two prose accounts of life in Anglos-Saxon England which have also survived.
The Medieval Period
➢ Years between 1000 – 1500
➢ Refers to an era in European history extending form the downfall of the Roman Empire.
➢ Feudalism
➢ Roman Catholic Church served as the unifying force in the society

➢ Medieval literature was first presented orally
➢ Literatures reflects feudalism, loyalty, heroism, love and religion.

The Renaissance Period
➢ A period of “rebirth” or “revival”
➢ After the dark age
➢ Renewed respect for the thoughts and talents of a person as an individual was recognized
➢ Many classical art forms flourished again
➢ Most popular dramatist during this period was William Shakespeare
➢ Was marked by a separation between religion and life
➢ This period was also an outburst of the epic poetry in the tradition of Homer and Virgil.
➢ Some prose were also written like the novel “Don Quixote” and the political works “The
Prince” and “Utopia”.
The Age of Reason
➢ Age of Reason or the Enlightenment is also referred as the Age of Classicism.
➢ 17th century
➢ Reason was the ruling principle of life and art.
➢ Most elegant and most sophisticated age of all time
➢ Philosophers believed that human could reach perfection and an ideal society was
acceptable.
➢ Metaphysical poetry emerged: it is characterized by a spirit of intellectual investigation of

the spiritual rather than the mystical reverence of many earlier English poems.
➢ In contrast to the metaphysical poets, John Milton’s “Paradise Lost” was created. It was
an epic religious poem in blank verse.
Romanticism Period
➢ Started during the 19th century
➢ Romantics valued emotions more than reasons
➢ Democracy spread throughout Europe
➢ Was a period of great change throughout the world

Realism Period
➢ Portrays life as it really is
➢ Focus was on society and its problems
➢ 19th century
Scope of Literature
Literature and Religion: Literature, in and its final analysis represents the same fundamental
relationship: it seeks to explain, to justify, to reconcile, to interpret and even to comfort and to
console.
Literature and Philosophy: Literature does not constitute a realm of falsehood, it is, at its best,
only truth second hand.
Literature and History: History in the wider sense is all that has happened, not merely all the
phenomena of human life, but those of the natural world as well, it includes everything that
undergoes change.
Importance of Studying World Literature
➢ Preserve details of culture and tradition of different people from all over the world
➢ Provide opportunities to state views about the ideas and values expressed in literary
works
➢ Promote the intellectual, academic, professional, moral and spiritual development of

learners
“Literature is always personal, always one man’s vision of the world, one man’s experience and
it can only be popular when men are ready to welcome the visions of others.”
William Butler Yeats

Lecture Introduction To World Literature

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Lecture Introduction To World Literature

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Lecture Introduction To World Literature

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Introduction to World Literature

➢ Cultural heritage of all humanity

➢ Commonality of the human spirit and experience across cultures

➢ Includes oral traditions, poetry, fiction, essay and drama

➢ “acquaintance with letters”

➢ A branch of aesthetics and philosophy

➢ Written in prose or verse

➢ Different meanings depending on who is using it and in what context

➢ Webster defines literature as “all writings in prose or verse, especially those of an

➢ It is about the experiences – records of man’s everyday struggle for life.

Diverse Definitions of Literature

Historical Backgrounds and Literary Developments

➢ Lasted for more than 600 years

➢ Became the basis of English culture

➢ Old English was eventually developed

➢ Christianity was brought to England

➢ Anglo-Saxon literature was oral

➢ Years between 1000 – 1500

➢ Roman Catholic Church served as the unifying force in the society

➢ Literatures reflects feudalism, loyalty, heroism, love and religion.

➢ A period of “rebirth” or “revival”

➢ After the dark age

➢ Many classical art forms flourished again

➢ Most popular dramatist during this period was William Shakespeare

➢ Was marked by a separation between religion and life

➢ Age of Reason or the Enlightenment is also referred as the Age of Classicism.

➢ Reason was the ruling principle of life and art.

➢ Most elegant and most sophisticated age of all time

➢ Metaphysical poetry emerged: it is characterized by a spirit of intellectual investigation of

➢ Started during the 19th century

➢ Romantics valued emotions more than reasons

➢ Democracy spread throughout Europe

➢ Was a period of great change throughout the world

➢ Portrays life as it really is

➢ Focus was on society and its problems

Importance of Studying World Literature

➢ Promote the intellectual, academic, professional, moral and spiritual development of

You might also like

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.