Unit 1 Fundamentals Of Literature: Definition Of Basic Concepts 4z3g1c

Compiled by: Belachew Weldegebriel Jimma University College of Social Sciences and Humanities Department of English Language and Literature

Literature What?

Can you comment on the following definitions of Literature?  written works, especially those considered of superior or

lasting artistic merit. "a great work of literature"  books and writings published on a particular subject.

"the literature on environmental epidemiology“  written works (such as poems, plays, and novels) that are

considered to be very good and to have lasting importance.  Literature is defined as books and other written works,

especially those considered to have creative or artistic merit or lasting value.

Definitions of Literature  The word literature is derived from the Latin term

litera which means – letter. Literature, in its broadest sense refers to any written material including ments, newspapers and catalogues.  Literature can be defined as ‘pieces of writing that are valued as works of art, especially novels, plays and poems’. (Oxford Advanced learner’s English Dictionary)  Literature is the total of preserved writings belonging to a given language or people.  Literature is a term used to describe written or spoken material.

Definition of Literature  According to Webster, literature is anything that is

printed as long as it is related to the ideas and feelings of people, whether it is true, or just a product of one’s imagination.  But the term is normally used to describe written works of artistic merit which have some value through their style or emotional content.

 Language artistically used to achieve identifiable

literary qualities and to convey meaningful messages  Literary is characterized by beauty of expression, form and by universality, intellectual and emotional appeal.

Definitions of Literature  Literature is used to describe anything from

creative writing to more technical or scientific work but the term is most commonly used to refer to works of the creative imagination, poetry, drama, fiction and non fiction.  “the body of written works produced in a particular language, country, or age, or the body of writings on a particular subject (scientific, art, etc.)”

Literature: Literature is usually defined as  “Imaginative” writing in the sense of fiction-writing

which is not literally true.  Actually, the distinction between “fact” and “fiction”

seems unlikely to get us very far  Novels and news reports were neither clearly factual

nor clearly fictional.

Literature  Literature is not definable according to

whether it is fictional or “imaginative” but because it uses language in particular ways.  Literature is a kind of writing which represents an ‘organized violence committed on ordinary speech’ Raman Jocobson  Literature transforms and intensifies ordinary language, deviates systematically from everyday speech.

Some useful remarks and questions  If literature includes much ‘factual’ writing,

it also excludes quite a lot of fiction.  If literature is ‘creative’ or ‘imaginative’ writing, does this imply that history, philosophy and natural science are uncreative and unimaginative?

What is Literature?  The literary work was neither a vehicle for

ideas, a reflection of social reality nor the incarnation of some transcendental truth: It is a material fact, whose functioning could be analyzed rather as one could examine a machine.  It was made of words not of objects or feelings, and it was a mistake to see it as the expression of the author’s mind.

Formalists view of literature  The formalists started out by seeing the literary work

as a more or less arbitrary assemblage of ‘devices’, and only later come to see these devices as interrelated elements of functions within a total textual system.  Devices included sound, imagery, rhythm, syntax,

meter, rhyme, narrative techniques , in fact the whole stock of formal literary elements; and what all of these elements had in common was their estranging or defamiliarizing effect.

Non-fiction This can also be called “informational" material. These types of books provide information that is factual. Nothing is make-believe in these types of materials. More specific examples of this type of genre would be . . . Biographies Autobiographies

Non-fiction Biographies: A true of a person's life written, composed, or produced by another.

Autobiographies: The biography of a person written by that person him/herself.

Fiction  In this type of work, the author can make up the

whole/entire story. Authors can also choose to include factual information in a made-up story.  The author can have wizards creating magic spells or it can be about a 12 year old girl who has a secret crush.

Types of Literature and their meaning (a) Poetry- is the expression of ideas or a story in a form which has a metre (rhythm) and sometimes rhyme. Poetry is appreciated for the beauty of the language used as well as for the ideas or stories that it contains. The earliest poems were epics: long stories of the heroic deeds of gods or men. The Iliad of Homer is the best known examples of this type of poem and tells of the siege and fall of Troy.

Prose (b) Prose- uses the spoken language but prose literature has to communicate stories or ideas clearly and in a form that is enjoyable to read.  The best-known prose is the novel, a story of fictitious characters and events which relate to a real life. It is normally long and may have a complex plot.  The first long narratives were written by Ancient Greek and Roman authors and were often humorous. But for a long time poetry was regarded as the proper medium of expression for serious or noble stories and prose was only used to write about mundane matters.

The Novel  The novel in its modern form came into being in the

late 1700s although satirical books such as Cervantes’ Don Quixote and Rabelais’ Gargantua and Pantagruel were written in the 16th and 17th centuries.  In the 19th century British novels attained status when authors like Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, and Brontë sisters and William Thackeray were writing.

Drama  Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in

performance. Drama is the most concrete form in which art can recreate human situation.

 a composition in prose or verse presenting in dialogue

or pantomime a story involving conflict or contrast of character, especially one intended to be acted on the stage; a play (Dictionary.com)

Drama  The word drama comes from the Greek word ‘dran’

which means to do.  The ancient Greek is considered the birthplace of classic western theatre.  Greek theatre began as a part of religious celebration of the god Dionysus.  Imitation – the fact that drama presents something closer to the reality, but not reality itself, is one of the universal elements of drama.

Questions

Questions  “Art is not a mirror to reflect reality; but a hammer to shape it. Bertolt Brecht

Thank

you