Introduction to the Study of Literature

LEARNING MODULE RATIONALE

Although literature is sometimes defined as anything written, this definition is both too broad and
too narrow. Although it is true that anyone can ask the Department of Agriculture for “literature”
about canning artichokes, surely we can distinguish between literature in the sense of any writing,
and literature in the sense of verbal works of art.

This chapter prepares you to the study of literature. Different concepts crucial to the understanding
and appreciation of literature will be discussed.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the conclusion of this learning module, the students are expected to:

A. Define what literature is.

B. Determine the different theories, sources, and types of literature.
C. Determine ways of interpreting a text.
D. Recognize some common archetypes and symbols used in literature.
E. Interpret a text from a personal perspective.
TEACHING STRATEGIES/LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Lecture
Classroom Discussion

RESOURCES/MATERIALS

Check more examples of archetypes and symbols commonly used in

literature through the link provided below!

http://facstaff.gpc.edu/~dcromer/1102/archetypal_symbols.pdf
LEARNING CONCEPT

Topic 1
Introduction to the Study of Literature

1.1. What is literature?

We can begin by saying that literature is a “performance in words.” It has in it an element

of entertaining display, and surely we expect literature to be in some sense entertaining, or
to afford pleasure. That literature is an adult game, a sort of make- believe, is suggested in
some of the words we apply to pieces of literature—“fiction,” “story,” “tale,” “play.”

"It is in literature that the concrete outlook of humanity receives

its expression."
- Alfred North Whitehead

The difficulty of literature is not to write, but

to write what you mean."
- Robert Louis Stevenson

"Literature is where I go to explore the highest and lowest places

in human society and in the human spirit, where I hope to find not
absolute truth but the truth of the tale, of the imagination and of the
heart."
- Salman Rushdie

1.2. Theories on Literature

A. Imitative Theory

- holds that art is an imitation of something. In his Poetics, Aristotle (384-

322 B.C.) says that a tragedy is an imitation of an action that is serious and
 complete. Because imitation now has pejorative associations, it is well to think of
Aristotle’s mimesis as not only “imitation” but also “re-creation” or “representation.”

B. Expressive Theory

- holds that an artist is not essentially an imitator but one who expresses his
feelings. D.H. Lawrence said, “One sheds one’s sickness in books,
repeats and presents again one’s emotions to be master of them.”

C. Affective Theory

- holds that a work of art ought to arouse a particular emotion, or affect (to
use the psychologist’s term), in the perceiver. This theory is often closely
related to the expressive theory: the artist allegedly expresses his emotion,
embodying in a work of art, and this work evokes in the perceiver a similar
or identical emotion.

1.3. Literary Creation

conscious and unconscious

o dreams and stories
authors' awareness and unawareness of ideas in literature

1.4. Sources of Literature

Direct: author's ideas, personal experiences, feelings, desires

Indirect: ideologies; culture and society; historical circumstances; patronage;
human aims, aspirations, and desires

1.5. Interpretation

the art of explaining the meaning of literature, recovering the ideas embodied in the
symbols of literature
  
Possibility of multiple meanings due to overdetermination
  
Need for close, attentive reading of the text
  
Need to understand author's life, historical context
 
Need for awareness of readers' and interpreters' biases and ideological preferences
  
Objective vs subjective interpretation
 
Variable value of different interpretations


1.6. Types of Literature: The Four Genres

1. Narrative Fiction

- a narrative is an account of a series of events, usually fictional, although

sometimes fictional events may be tied to events that are genuinely
historical
Types: short stories and novels
A short story is usually about one or two characters undergoing some sort
of difficulty or facing some sort of problem.
The novel permits a full development of these interactions, and its length is
caused by this fullness of development.

2. Drama
- designed to be performed on stage by live actors. It therefore consists
of dialogue together with directions for action.

3. Poetry
- is a broad term that includes many subtypes, such as sonnet, lyric, pastoral,
ballad, song, ode, drama ( which may be in either prose or poetry), epic,
mock epic, and dramatic monologue. Its basic arrangement is separate
lines rather than paragraphs, although stanzas correspond to paragraphs,
and cantos sometimes correspond to chapters.

4. Nonfiction Prose

- a broad term referring to short forms like essays and articles and to
longer nonfictional and nondramatic works. The essay or article is a form
designed primarily to express ideas, interpretations, and descriptions.

1.7. Common Symbols and Archetypes

1. Water: the mystery of creation; birth-death-resurrection; purification and

redemption; fertility and growth. According to Carl Jung, water is most common
symbol for the unconscious.

a) The Sea: the mother of all life; spiritual mystery and infinity; death and rebirth;
timelessness and eternity; the unconscious.

b) Rivers: death and rebirth (baptism); the flowing of time into eternity; transitional
phases of the life cycle; incarnations of deities.

2. Sun (fire and sky are closely related): creative energy; law in nature; consciousness
(thinking, enlightenment, wisdom, spiritual vision); father principle (moon and earth
tend to be associated with the mother principle); passage of time and life.

a) Rising sun: birth; creation; enlightenment

b) Setting sun: death

3. Colors:

a) Red: blood, sacrifice, violent passion, disorder

b) Green: growth, sensation, hope, fertility, in ironical context may be associated

with death and decay

c) Blue: usually highly positive, associated with truth, religious feeling, spiritual purity,
security

d) White: highly multivalent; signifying in its positive aspects light, purity, innocence,
and timelessness; signifying in its negative aspects, death, terror, the supernatural, and
the blinding truth of an inscrutable cosmic mystery as in “The Whiteness of the Whale”
chapter in Moby Dick

e) Black (darkness): chaos, mystery, the unknown, death, primal wisdom, the
unconscious, evil, melancholy

4. Circle (sphere): wholeness, unity

a) Mandala (a geometric figure based upon the squaring of a circle around a unifying
center; the desire for spiritual unity and psychic integration. In classical forms features
the juxtaposition of the triangle, the square, and the circle with their numerical
equivalents of three, four, and seven.

b) Egg (oval): the mystery of life and the forces of generation

c) Yang-Yin- the Chinese symbol representing the union of opposite forces of the Yang
(masculine principle: light, activity, the conscious mind) and the Yin (the feminine
principle: darkness, passivity, and the unconscious mind).

d) Ouroboros: the ancient symbol of a snake biting its own tail, signifying the
eternal cycle of life, primordial unconsciousness, the unity of opposing forces (as in
Yang-Yin).

5. Serpent (snake or worm): symbol of energy and pure force (cf. libido); evil,
corruption, sensuality; destruction; mystery; wisdom; the unconscious.

Figure 1.1
Mandala

Figure 1.2
Yang-yin
REFERENCES

Roberts, E.(1983). Writing themes about literature. New Jersey: Prentice- Hall, Inc.

Barnet, S., et al. (1977). An introduction to literature. Toronto: Little, Brown and Company,
Inc.

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