corlit reviewer

• World Literature


  The term coined by Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832) to refer to literature from around the world
• Goethe was a prolific writer and is credited with beginning the literary movement known as Romanticism through the publication of his epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774)
• Goethe realized that the best way to help his country was to create a national identity for Germany through the medium of literature
• Once that national identity was established and accepted throughout Europe, then the literature would carry weight and become interesting to readers in other countries, leading to translations and the dissemination of works not only throughout Europe, but also to European colonies
• Goethe's theories about Weltliteratur would inspire not only the unification of Germany under Otto von Bismark (1871), but they also lead to a movement that would take hold in the Twentieth Century for an expansion of inclusive literature and the creation of departments devoted to the study of World Literature
• Latin American literature


  The national literatures of the Spanish-speaking countries of the Western Hemisphere, including the literary expression of the highly developed American Indian civilizations conquered by the Spaniards
• During the first half of the 20th century, Latin American literature saw many poets gaining recognition, among them Gabriela Mistral, Pablo Neruda, and Octavio Paz, who all won Nobel Prizes
• The genre saw a "boom" in the 1960s, with the likes of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Julio Cortazar gaining worldwide recognition, the former also winning a Nobel Prize
• One of the most significant developments in literature from Latin America in the latter part of the 20th century was the emergence of a host of recognized women writers, such as Isabel Allende
• Since then, Latin American writers have broken away from the magical realism that dominated writings of the region in attempts to look for something original, turning instead to more "realistic" issues and methods of capturing them
• Contemporary Latin literature is now being shaped by younger writers whose voices and manner of speaking are arguably a far cry from their predecessors
• North American literature was shaped by the history of the country that produced it
• By the end of the 19th century, the United States had taken its place among the powers of the world – inevitably becoming involved in two world wars, along with the problems of Europe and East Asia
• The rise of science and industry, as well as changes in ways of thinking and feeling, wrought many modifications in people's lives, all of which molded the literature of the country
• Western literature


  Literature written in the context of Western culture in the languages of Europe, including the ones belonging to the Indo-European language family as well as several geographically or historically related languages such as Basque and Hungarian
• Western literature is considered one of the defining elements of Western civilization
• It is impossible to speak of European literature without going into British literature, or literature from the United Kingdom, as the famous "canonical works," such as the likes of Shakespeare, all came from this nation
• As the European continent undergoes current upheavals in its governing structures, its literature functions as a tool to both find a space for the individual stories each country has to tell and work to unite a vulnerable Europe
• Australian Literature


  Covers works not only those coming from the European settlers, but also those of the indigenous tribes of the country, or the Aborigines
• Many Australian literature feature a strong sense of values in the country that promote tradition and the celebration of the ethnic culture
• Some of the themes focus on the individual experiences of people in the community, but also showcase a way of representation and symbolism of issues of the country
• Although the country is rediscovering most of its classic literature, contemporary writings are celebrated just as much
• Oceanic Literature


  Presents a look into stories of the Pacific Islands, including myths and legends that are popular in the international scene, as well as contemporary literature that is harder to find
• A number of Pacific Island authors and writers promote other forms of contemporary literature to raise awareness of the cultures of the Pacific Islands
• The poems "I am Hine, I am Moana" by Tina Ngata and "Prescribed Fire" by William Nu'utupu Giles focus on identity and celebrate ethnicity while addressing the struggle of many Pacific Islanders to promote truth about their practices and their beliefs
• The history of African literature dates back to Ancient Egypt and hieroglyphs, which led to Arabic poetry and the blending of African, Arabic, and European cultures and literature
• The hardships Africa had to undergo, such as colonization and slavery, left an impact on the themes of its literature, including the African Diaspora
• Sub-Saharan Africa developed a written literature during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as a result of missionaries coming to the area to build churches and language schools in order to translate religious texts
• Though African literature's history is as long as it is rich, most of the popular works have come out since 1950, especially the noteworthy Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
• The vast amounts of Asian literature dates back throughout history with the beginning of songs, poems, and historically written artifacts, often consisting of religious themes, spirituality, values, and war
• Biographical Criticism


  Examines how an author's life can help readers better understand a literary work
• Feminist/Gender Criticism


  Examines how sexual identity influences the creation and reception of literary works, analyzing how images of men and women reflect social forces
• Formalist Criticism


  Views literature as a distinct form of knowledge that requires examination on its own terms, focusing on literary elements like style, structure, tone, and imagery
• Feminist critics include "analyzing how sexual identity influences the reader of a text" and "examining how the images of men and women in imaginative literature reflect or reject the social forces that have historically kept the sexes from achieving total equality."
• Formalist Criticism


  Views literature as a distinct form of knowledge that requires examination on its own terms. It focuses on the literary elements within the text, such as style, structure, tone, and imagery, to determine how they shape the work's effects on readers. This approach is also known as New Criticism.
• Historical Criticism


  Aims to comprehend a literary piece by examining the social, cultural, and intellectual milieu that influenced it, including the artist's biography. Understanding how a literary work impacts its original readers is a significant objective for historical critics.
• Marxist/Sociological Criticism


  Examines literature in the cultural, economic and political context in which it is written or received, exploring the relationships between the artist and society.
• Psychological criticism


  Uses psychoanalytic theories, especially those of Freud and Jacques Lacan, to understand more fully the text, the reader, and the writer. The basis of this approach is the idea of the existence of human consciousness – those impulses, desires, and feelings about which a person is unaware, but which influence emotions or behavior.
• Reader-response criticism


  Removes the focus from the text and places it on the reader instead, by attempting to describe what goes on in the reader's mind during the reading of a text. Reader-response critics are not interested in a "correct" interpretation of a text or what the author intended. They are interested in the reader's individual experience with a text.
• Carol Ann Duffy is a poet of self-discovery and the exploration of the human experience. Her monologues address issues about love, loss, and identity.