Lesson 1 Fourth Quarter: World Literature

• World Literature

  • Often used in the past primarily for masterpieces of Western European literature
  • v The term World Literature or weltliteratur  (in German language)

   is attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe when he observed writers like Franz Kafka
• In 1827

  • Goethe famously remarked that “the epoch of world literature is at hand”    ( time of historical importance)
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  • philosopher, critic, and government official; however, he is best known for his writing.
• FAUST

  • a tragic play
  • basic plot is that the doctor and scientist Heinrich Faust faces a crisis (the Earth Spirit telling him he can never be a god despite his knowledge of EVERYTHING), nearly commits suicide, and then makes a pact with Mephistopheles, who promises to be his magical servant in exchange for Faust's soul.
• Sumerian Cuneiform

  • The earliest examples of written literature appear to have originated in ancient
• Sumerian civilization first developed writing around 3400 BC., when they began making markings on clay tablets in a script known as cuneifor
• Kesh Temple Hymn

  ◦         an ancient ode to the Kesh temple and the deities that inhabited it.
• Instructions of Shuruppak

  ◦         a piece of “wisdom literature” that takes the form of very wise advice (teach proper piety, inculcate virtue, and preserve community standards) supposedly handed down from the Sumerian king Shuruppak to his son, Ziusudra.
• Epic of Gilgamesh

  • The earliest surviving notable literature and the second oldest religious text, after the Pyramid Texts.
  • history’s oldest known fictional story.
  • mythic poem that first appeared as early as the third millennium B.C.

  The adventure-filled tale centers on a Sumerian king named Gilgamesh who is described as being one-third man and two-thirds god.
• Western Literature


  the birth of this literature was because of the writings of Homer, (Iliad and the Odyssey)
• Medieval Era (600-1300 AD)

  • was characterized by Christianity and chivalry.
  • most of the literary work were written in Old English.
• Renaissance (late 15th to early 17th century)

  • was greatly influenced by the progress of art and sciences and the emergence of humanism.
  • was greatly influenced by the progress of art and sciences and the emergence of humanism.
• Neoclassical (Enlightment) from 1160-1790

  • combination of the terms 'neo,' which means 'new,‘

    and 'classical,' as in the day of the Roman and Greek classics.
• NEOCLASSICAL PERIOD (THE ENLIGHTENMENT)  ( 1660-­1790)

  • The combination of the terms 'neo,' which means 'new,‘

    and 'classical,' as in the day of the Roman and Greek classics. This was also the era of The Enlightenment, which emphasized logic and reason.

  • Literature focused on the necessities of life, Ex. Benjamin Franklin in Poor Richard's Almanack,  attempts to share knowledge in pre-Revolutionary France.
• Romantic

  celebration of nature, focus on the individual and spirituality, celebration of isolation and melancholy, interest in the common man, idealization of women, and personification and pathetic fallacy.
• famous works of Romanticism

  • John Keats’ To Autumn (1820)
  • Frankenstein by Mary Shelly
• Victorian

  • challenged the ideals of their restrictive time most famous among the Victorian authors are Charles Dickens and Jane Austen, 
• REALISM

  • moved more philosophical writings directly into the sphere of literature.
  • Russian authors like Dostoyevsky and Chekhov thrived during this period.
• Modern Literature (early 1900s- early 1940s)

  • Modern literature refers to the modernist period in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is the period where literature was written, explained, and spoken.
  • Harlem Renaissance-encompasses the poetry, fiction, and non-fiction written by Black American writers during the early twentieth century. 
  •  Realism became the dominant fashion
• 21st century World Literature

  • technology and freedom of expression, as well as our growing need for information, we continue to accelerate world literature as more and more people contribute to it.
• Close reading

  • is deep analysis of how a literary text works; it is both a reading process and something you include in a literary analysis paper, though in a refined form. 
  • Fiction writers and poets build texts out of many central components, including: subject (what is the text all about), form (how the text is put together), and specific word choices (are there words that stand out?).
• Geographic form

  Literature uses geography to indicate a place in a story. To give us vivid   picture of a story setting.
• Genre

  ´is a type of art, literature, or music characterized by a specific form, content, and style.
• Blog

  • or “web log”, is a discussion or informational website in the world web. An online journal, on reverse chronological order where latest post appear first.
  • The text style entries are somewhat discreet and informal.
• Digi-Fiction

  • a literary experience that combines 3 media: book, movie/video and internet website
  • In order to get the full story, one must engage in navigation, reading, viewing, in all three formats.
  • Ex. Dune by Frank Herbert, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein, The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C.
• Doodle Fiction

  • literary presentation where the author incorporate doodle drawings and handwritten graphics in place of the traditional font.
• Manga

  • is the Japanese word for comics originally published in Japan
  • Usually follows traditional style, to be read from the right side to the left, including the reading of the comic panels, opposite of traditional American books.
• Shonen

  boys’ manga (show-nen)
• Shojo


  girl’ manga (show-jow)
• Seinen

  men’s manga (sey-nen)
• Josei

  women’s manga (jow-sey)
• Kodomo

  children’s manga (kow-dow-mow)
• Illustrated Novel

  • the term refers to an extended narrative with multiple images that, together with the text, produce meaning.
  • 50% of the narrative is presented through pictures.

  Ex. are:

  Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

  Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

  Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S.
• Graphic Novel

  • a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using comic form.
  • ´ Ex. "Archie Comics" by John Goldwater.

   
• Creative nonfiction

  is a rich mix of ideas, techniques, some of which are newly invented and others are as old as writing itself.

  • Creative nonfiction can be personal, essay, a journal article, a research paper, a memoir, or a poem.

  The Genesee Diary by Henri Nouwen

  ´ -Henri Nouwen, kept a journal during a six-month stay at a Trappist monastery in Western New York.
• Flash Fiction

  • is a fictional work of extreme brevity but still have plot development and character.
  • Average word count ranges from 1,500-2000. Also called short  nanotales, micro-stories, napkin fiction, postcard fiction.
  • ´ Ex. "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

  (The story is often misattributed to Ernest Hemingway, but Garson O'Toole at Quote Investigator has done extensive work to trace its true origin.)
• Speculative Fiction

  • (also referred to as a “super genre,” for its broadness).
  • Under this classification, it can include literary fiction with fantastical elements as well as hardcore science fiction, fantasy, and horror.
  • Ex. Margaret Atwood writes in her book In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination that science fiction and speculative fiction are fluid terms.
• Chick Lit

  • consists of women – centered narratives that focus on the trials and tribulations of individual protagonists.
  • Address issues of modern womanhood- from romantic relationships to female friendships and matters in the workplace in humorous and lighthearted ways.
• Emma by Jane Austen


  Matchmaker Emma Woodhouse is the popular rich girl in town but has no idea how to handle her own love life. This novel has been turned into several films and even adapted for modern-day audiences as the movie Clueless, starring Alicia Silverstone
• Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

  This heartbreaking story about survival in 1930. Japan reveals the last days of the sometimes cruel but mobilizing geisha culture in Kyoto.