WORLD LITERATURES

Rain G. Chua College of Rehabilitation Sciences University of Santo Tomas

Course Title and Description

Course Title: World Literatures Course Code: Lit 101 Course Credit: 3 units Course Description: This course deals with the study of the different literary types and forms of world literatures.

Course Objectives
General Objectives This course is designed to develop the ability to read, understand and appreciate the various genres of world literatures. Furthermore, it aims to inculcate among our students the desire for knowledge and wisdom, respect for nature and culture, love for truth, peace and justice which eventually will constitute a compassionate, competent and committed Thomasian.

Course Objectives
Specific Objectives. The students are expected to: Identify, comprehend and value the various types and forms of literature across cultures; Distinguish and discuss the literary style and technique as well as the writers vision of life and theme explicated in the text; Show appreciation for the significant human experiences highlighted in the literary work; Acquire deeper insight and wisdom to accept the complexities of life, varieties of cultures and traditions, and accepted norms and practices; Write critique papers based on the literary texts.

Methodologies and Requirements

Methodologies Lecture Discussion/Report Dramatization/Dramatic Reading Creative/Critical reading Film Viewing Field Exposure Requirements Reading of assigned selections Class participation Submission of requirements on time

My Requirements:

Have your book and pencil/pen ready upon arriving in class. Also have a filler on hand. Come to class on time. Turn your cellular phones into SILENT mode. If you want to say something, raise your hand and say it. The only thoughts that we will entertain in class are INTELLIGENT thoughts. All intelligent thoughts are welcome. Recite as much as you can. Consult me if you need/want to know anything. Do your best, and your professor and GOD will do the rest.

Grading System and Manual

60% - Class Standing (quizzes, recitation, participation, projects, assignments) 40% - Major Exams (1st shifting, prelims and finals) Final Grade = 1st shifting grade + prelim grade + semi-final grade / 3 Textbook View/s: Between Borders, Beyond Barriers Understanding Peoples and Cultures through World Literatures Lopez, Urquiola, Biavati (UST Publishing House, 2009)

Course Outline
Weeks 1 and 2 Background in Literature Definition of Literature Types of Literature Literary Standards Why Literature? Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru) Week 3 Mirror on the Wall: Toward SelfDiscovery/Recovery An Introduction Kamala Das (India) Songbirds of Pain Garry Kilworth (UK) The Myth of Sisyphus Albert Camus (Algeria)

Course Outline
Week 4 The Temple of My Familiar Initiation to Social Processes and Institutions Movimientos de Rebeldia Gloria Anzaldua (US-Mexico Border) The Lawsuit Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt) From Iliad Homer (Greece) Week 5 First Shifting Examinations Week 6 No Walls, No Ceilings, No Floors: Mapping a Space of Ones Own Revelations Katherine Mansfield (New Zealand) Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening Robert Frost (USA) Sandra Barry Manilow (USA)

Course Outline
Week 7 In the Garden of Love and Romance: Taste and See the Fruit of Passion Sonnet 43 Elizabeth Barrett Browning (England) Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines Pablo Neruda (Chile) From Like Water for Chocolate (Chabela Wedding Cake) Laura Esquivel (Mexico) Week 8 The Poetics of Loss: Coming to Terms with Death, Pain and Suffering Riders to the Sea John Millington Synge (Ireland) A Rose for Emily William Faulkner (USA) Management of Grief Bharati Mukherjee (India)

Course Outline
Week 9 Telling Lives: Tales of Gender and Sexuality The Blank Page Isak Dinesen (Denmark) Fish Bones Larissa Lai (Canada) The River Merchants Wife Li Po (China) Week 10 Preliminary Examinations Week 11 Dividing Lines: The Ideology of Difference Telephone Conversation Wole Soyinka (Nigeria) At the Portagees Alex La Guma (South Africa) Swaddling Clothes Yukio Mishima (Japan)

Course Outline
Week 12 CRS Week Week 13 At the Crossroads: Of Tradition and Change Ah-mah Shirley Geok Lin Lim (Malaysia) Mexican Masks Octavio Paz (Mexico) The Female Body Margaret Atwood (Canada) Week 14 Natures Way: An Ecology of Survival Paraiso Ryan Cayabyab (Philippines) Thomas Mann Wislawa Szymborska (Poland) Both Sides, Now Joni Mitchell (Canada) Week 15 Final Examinations

WHAT IS LITERATURE FOR YOU?

DEFINITION OF LITERATURE

It is derived from the Latin term litera, which means letters. Some loosely interpret literature as any printed matter within a book, a magazine or a pamphlet. Others define it as a faithful reproduction of mans manifold experiences blended into ones harmonious expression. Literature is the story of man since the world began. It deals with ideas, thoughts, grief, aspirations and dreams of man. It is experiencing life through reading.

WHY STUDY LITERATURE?

Reading is one of the greatest and most satisfying pleasures of human beings. Books hold the accumulated wisdom of the ages. Literature develops in the reader certain attitudes towards life, experience, nature and people. Literature is a wonderful depository of the thoughts of the best minds that the human race has produced.

As a student of Rehabilitation Sciences, why do YOU need to study Literature?

LITERARY STANDARDS
ARTISTRY All good literature is artistic. Literature is the expression of life in forms of truth and beauty. An artist must have a strong and abiding sense of the beautiful. In his interpretation of life, he must know what to select, what to leave out and how to group details. To do this, he must have a sense of unity, harmony and balance.

LITERARY STANDARDS
INTELLECTUAL VALUE It presents a challenge to our intellect, and our mental life is enriched as a result. All good literatures should make us think, provoke us thoughts, and move us to visualize fundamental truths.

LITERARY STANDARDS
SUGGESTIVENESS All artistic works have a strong emotional power. Emotions create interest and this is a reason why we read literary works. Instead of stating absolute facts, the artist opens visions and a tremendous world of feeling and speculation. The author must arouse sincere emotions. Great literatures are felt by the heart.

LITERARY STANDARDS
SPIRITUAL VALUE The history of literature tells us that great importance has been laid in ethical values. The Bible, Koran and the sacred books of China and India stressed great religious and moral truths. Many of the worlds greatest literary works are professedly didactic. They teach the principles of right conduct and moral ideas.

LITERARY STANDARDS
PERMANENCE The world will not willingly allow anything beautiful to perish. Good literature endures and becomes more attractive and meaningful as the years go by. Great literatures give something to their generation, and more to future generations. Ex. Shakespeare.

LITERARY STANDARDS
UNIVERSALITY Good literature appeals to the widest and to the simplest human emotions. It knows no limitations of race and time. It concerns itself with the elemental passions and emotions of man love, joy, hate, sorrow, fear that are true to human nature. Ex. The Prodigal Son for all fathers, Homeric poems for noble people, Romeo and Juliet for all lovers.

LITERARY STANDARDS
STYLE The unconscious reflection of an artists personality. It consists of his peculiar way of looking at things and the manner he forms his ideas and expressions. It is the mark of ownership that a writer stamps upon his creation. Ex. Joaquins verbose writing and N.V.M. Gonzalezs simplistic and nuanced writing.

BODY OF THE REPORT

Brief background and influence of the author Writing and literary styles and technique of the author Brief summary or description and theme of the poem, story or essay Images, symbols, figurative speech and other literary devices found in the selection. Personal interpretation and insight about the selection Written or hard copy of the report to be submitted during the presentation

The Reporters:
Group 1: Songbirds of Pain Garry Kilworth (UK) (Next week) Group 2: The Lawsuit Naguib Mahfouz Group 3: Revelations Katherine Mansfield Group 4: Sandra Barry Manilow Group 5: Sonnet 43 Elizabeth Barrett Browning Group 6: Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines Pablo Neruda Group 7: Riders to the Sea John Millington Synge

The Reporters:
Group 8: Fish Bones Larissa Lai Group 9: Swaddling Clothes Yukio Mishima (Japan) Group 10: Ah-mah Shirley Geok Lin Lim (Malaysia) Group 11: Mexican Masks Octavio Paz Group 12: Both Sides, Now Joni Mitchell

APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF LITERATURE

THEORY OF ART AS IMITATION This theory, formulated by Aristotle in about 300 B.C., states that art is an imitation of life but not mere servile imitation. The imitation is creative and it seeks to represent the truth. THEORY OF ART AS EXPRESSION An artist does not only imitate, but seeks to express himself the internal world of his feelings and not just the external world of his reality. THE AFFECTIVE THEORY OF ART A work of art should arouse a definite calculated emotion on a reader.

TYPES OF LITERATURE

A. 1.

2.

POETRY it was the first to be developed and the best literary works have been written in this form. It uses rhyme, meter, exalted and figurative language, and has melody, harmony and balance. Narrative Poetry a story-telling poetry. Epic long narrative poem set against the distant past relating the exploits of a semilegendary hero. Ex. The Iliad & The Odyssey Metrical Romance long rambling story in verse characteristic of the Middle Ages. Ex. King Arthur and Knights of the Round Table

TYPES OF LITERATURE
3. Ballad story-telling verse meant to be sung. a) Folk songs of the unlettered folk. Ex. Get Up and Bar the Door, The Twa Sisters b) Literary songs written by the literary people. Ex. La Belle Dame Sans Merci John Keats 4. Metrical Tale it is to poetry what the short story is to prose. Ex. Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer

TYPES OF LITERATURE
B. Lyric Poetry derives its name from the musical instrument lyre, played by wandering minstrels, and is primarily intended to be sung. 1. Ode most majestic lyric type and expresses enthusiasm, lofty praise or homage for a person, thing or object. Ex. Ode to the West Wind Percy Bysshe Shelley. 2. Elegy voices the authors personal grief for a loved one, or loss affecting the public or simply a meditation about death. Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard Keats, O Captain, My Captain Whitman.

TYPES OF LITERATURE
3. Sonnet distinguished by its 14 iambic pentameter lines. Ex. Sonnet 43 Browning, Shakespeares sonnets 4. Song are short poems meant to be sung, which are either secular or sacred, anthems, oratories or hymns. Ex. Song to Celia Johnson, Auld Lang Syne Burns 5. Simple Lyric lyrical poems that do not belong to the other types of lyric. Ex. Psalm 23 King David, Birches - Frost

TYPES OF LITERATURE
C. Dramatic Poetry poetic form used to set forth life and character by means of speech and action. 1. Poetic Plays comedy (protagonist succeeds over the travails of his plight), tragedy (protagonist emerges as the loser in the end), dramatic history, farce and melodrama (exaggerated, excessive and plot situations are more important than the plot). 2. Masque is related more to the opera than to drama, characterized by a splendid setting, elaborate costumes, make-up, music and tableaux. 3. Dramatic Monologue has only one speaker and is adopted for small and non-regular productions.

TYPES OF LITERATURE

1.

2.

PROSE uses ordinary and personal language, sentences and paragraphs and is more direct and intimate to the reader. Modern Drama three act and one-act plays. Ex. A Dolls House Ibsen Essay presents in prose form the authors thoughts, feelings and observations on some phases of life that are of interest. Ex. Of Studies Bacon

TYPES OF LITERATURE
3. Prose Fiction prose narratives that employ creativity and imagination: a. Prose Allegory long implied comparison between unlike things. Characters are more symbols than personages. Ex. Animal Farm Orwell b. Prose Romance metrical romance in prose form. Ex. Don Quixote Cervantes c. Novel a three-element prose narrative (setting, plot and characters) Ex. Harry Potter novels d. Novelette a short novel with a simpler plot and fewer characters. Ex. Tuesdays with Morrie Albom e. Short Story one unit of place, time and action prose. Ex. The Necklace - Maupassant

TYPES OF LITERATURE
4. Biography and Autobiography fictionalized story of human life as it presents the highlights and struggles. Ex. The Life of Princess Diana 5. Letters, Diaries and Journals life accounts as they are lived from day to day, separated by dates. Ex. The Diary of Anne Frank 6. Other Prose Forms

Conventions Used in Formalism (New Criticism School)

Establishment of a key moment (epiphany) Use of authority in fiction (point of view) first person, third person, omniscient, central intelligence or scenic Use of symbols literal and symbolic Use of a unified effect beginning, middle and end (exposition-climax-key momentresolution)

Elements of a Short Story

Plot Structure/ Conflict Character/s Setting Theme Three Main Character Changes: 1. A reversal of attitude 2. A heightening of an old awareness 3. A sudden realization of a truth about oneself, human nature or condition.

Literary Standards
Artistry Intellectual Suggestiveness Spiritual Permanence Universality Style Three Main Types of Character Alienation Personal (Man Vs. Himself) Social (Man Vs. Another Man, Man Vs. Society) Cosmic (Man Vs. God, Man Vs. the Universe)

LITERARY MOVEMENTS
ROMANTICISM Life is portrayed as good. The absent is more revered than the present. Nostalgia and reminiscences are common themes. The hero is a perfect knight in shining armor debonair, intelligent, ideal.

LITERARY MOVEMENTS
REALISM Life is portrayed as objectively as possible. Life is both good and bad, meaningful and meaningless. The hero is a guy next door or a girl on the street, with both endearing and weak qualities. The approach of the writer is objectivity.

LITERARY MOVEMENTS
NATURALISM Life is meaningless. It is definitely bad all the way. Man is naturally weak. He is an animal drawn to animalistic tendencies. The hero is a victim of his environment. Even when he is good at the start, he will be corrupted by stronger forces surrounding him.