21st Century Literature - 4TH QUARTER

• Context - defined as the events that influenced the writing of a text. This can be social, political, historical, or cultural events.
• 2 Types of Context

  Writer's Context

  Reader's Context
• Types of Context

  Historical Context - provides information about the time and current events that can help you comprehend the general mood of the era, as well as set the tone for your piece of writing.
• Types of Context

  Physical Context - refers to the characteristics of a location that can also influence how a plot develops or how characters grow. This will have an impact on how specific characters behave and are perceived by the audience.
• Types of Context

  Cultural Context - refers to beliefs, religion, marriage, food, and dress that may be necessary to completely comprehend the story of an author.
• Types of Context

  Situational Context - refers to the reason for sometihing that is happening based on the event itself. The audience can understand how the circumstances of the event affecting those involved by using situational context
• Contextualization Techniques for Writers

  1. Try to be inventive.
  2. Keep in mind who you are speaking with.
  3. Avoid overloading of ideas.
• Diction - is a stylistic element that relates to the words that writers employ to express their ideas,
• Denotation - Literal meaning of the word, Dictionary definition
• Denotation-Related Facts

  • A denotation is attached to every word.
  • Denotation is a method of expressing something objectively.
  • Multiple words can be used to express the same idea.
  • It might not be the cause that denotation is fair.
• Connotation - Implied or suggested meaning of a word, Sometimes, but not always, fixed and is often subjective.
• Types of Connotation in Writing

  Positive connotation - refers to the words that elicit a positive emotional reaction
• Types of Connotation in Writing


  Negative connotation - is portrayed in a bad light
• Types of Connotation in Writing

  Neutral Connotation - expresses itself without attaching a positive or negative meaning, it is said to be neutral.
• Imagery - The collection of images within a literary work.

  pertains to the mental pictures that the poet creates through language.
• Types of Imagery

  Auditory - describes what we hear.

  Tactile - Describes what we touch or feel.

  Gustatory - describes what we taste.

  Olfactory - describes what we smell.

  Visual - describes what we see.

  Kinesthetic - refers to the perception of moving objects.

  Organic - refers to internal experiences, attitudes, and emotions.
• Sumer Civilization - 7,000 years old used cuneiform
• Indus Valley Civilization - 6,000 years old
• Mesopotamia - Cradle of Civilization
• Chinese Literature - used language consisting of script or characters that stands for ideas
• Taoism - Lao Tzu (Tao Te Ching or The Way and Its Power)
• Confucianism - Confucius or Kung Fu Tzu (Confucian Classics and Analects)
• Buddhism - Buddha or Siddhartha Gautama (Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Paths)
• New Culture Movement - a reaction against Confucianism and traditional Chinese Culture
• Communist People's Republic of China - was installed in 1949 by Mao Zedong
• Tiananmen Square - June 4, 1989
• David Der-Wei - Harvard professor of Asian studies claimed that the current Chinese writings mostly deal with science fantasy
• Sinophone Literature - written in Chinese by Chinese-speaking writers in various parts of the world outside of China
• Chinese Literary Periods


  • Classical Age - 3 philosophies
  • Modern Age - New Culture Movement
  • Present/Contemporary Age - Mao Zedong
  • 21st Century - Sinophone, David Der-wei
• Kanji - system of writing based on borrowed and modified Chinese characters, earliest writing system in Japan
• Ancient Era (Japanese) - had only oral tradition, produced The Kojiki
• The Kojiki - Record of Ancient Matters
• Classical Period (Japanese 8th-12th) - Golden era of art and literature, produced the Tale of Genji
• Tale of Genji - a novel written by Murasaki Shikibu in 10th century, 54-pages and one of the oldest novels in the world
• Medieval Times (Japanese 13th-16th) - produced the Tale of the Heike
• Tale of the Heike - tells the story of a power struggle between the Taira (Heike) and Minamoto (Genji) households
• Modern Literature (Japanese 17th-19th) - Japanese literary age of peace, Haiku and Kabuki were the most popular literary forms
• Haiku - 5-7-5 metrical pattern
• Kabuki - one of the minimalist forms of Japanese poetry, Japan's major theatrical form for 4 seasons, means Song, Dance, Skill
• I novel - long-form fiction that depicts the uglier side of life and carries a depressing tone