GREAT BOOKS (READING STYLES AND
FEMINIST CRITICISM - tries to correct
TECHNIQUES)
READING
- complex cognitive process of decoding symbols in
order to construct or derive meaning (reading
comprehension).
- means of language acquisition, of communication,
and of sharing information and ideas.
READING TECHNIQUE
- These are the styles, systems, and practices in
decoding symbols for better comprehension in
communication, sharing of information and ideas.
- COGNITIVE PROCESS - the process of
thinking and remembering.
- DECODING - to recognize and interpret
information.
- DERIVING - to take, receive, or obtain
something from a specified source.
- LANGUAGE ACQUISITION - the process
by which humans acquire the capacity to
perceive and comprehend language.
READING TECHNIQUES
1. SKIMMING - method of rapidly moving the eyes
over text to get only the main idea and the general
overview of the content. (Pre-reading, Reviewing,
Reading).
2. SCANNING - finding specific information such as
name, date, or fact without reading the entire article.
3. PHRASE READING - also known as “chunking”.
It prevents word-per-word reading and group words
that go together to mean something.
4. NON-PROSE READING - Graphs, Diagrams,
Charts, Maps.
5. DEEP READING - also known as “slow reading”.
It is an extensive reading and an active process of
thoughtful and deliberate reading carried out to
enhance one’s comprehension and enjoyment of the
text.
CRITICAL APPROACHES IN LITERATURE
CRITICAL APPROACHES - are different perspectives we
consider when looking at a piece of literature.
- seeks to give us answers to these questions in
addition in aiding us in interpreting literature.
- What do we read? Why do we read? How do we
read?
1. DECONSTRUCTION - suggests that language is
not a stable entity and that we can never say exactly
what we mean.
- Literature cannot give a reader any one
single meaning because the language itself
is too simply ambiguous.
- text vs. meaning (Example: Dog)
(Ambiguity)
2.
predominantly male-dominated critical perspective
with a feminist consciousness.
- places literature in a social context and
employs a broad range of disciplines, such
as history psychology, sociology, and
linguistics, to create a perspective that
considers feminist issues.
- understands representation in women’s
POV.
- development and discovery of female
tradition of writing, and rediscovering of old
texts, while also interpreting symbolism of
women's writing.
3. MARXIST CRITICISM - a strong politically
oriented criticism.
- derive from the theories of the social
philosopher Karl Max.
- insist that all use language is influenced by
social class and economics.
4. NEW CRITICISM - evolved out of the same root
theoretical system as deconstructionism, call
formalist criticism.
- works with the elements of the text only –
irony, paradox, metaphor, symbol, plot, etc.
- engaging in extremely close textual analysis.
- Close Reading
- suggest that the text is a self-contained
entity.
- Focus vs Layering.
5. NEW HISTORICISM - focuses on the literary text
as part of a larger social and historical context, and
the modern reader’s interaction with that work.
- Explores various version of history (words)
- Old Historicism- world , New Historicism-
word
6. PSYCHOLOGICAL CRITICISM -based on the
idea of the existence of a human consciousness –
those impulses, desires, and feelings about which a
person is unaware, but which influence emotions or
behavior.
- explores the motivations of the characters
and the symbolism meanings of events.
- author’s unintended message
7. QUEER THEORY/GENDER STUDIES -
questions that problematize the issues of gender
identity and sexual orientation in literary texts.
- it overlaps in many respects with feminist
theory in its aims and goals, being at once
political and practical.
- exploring the oppressive power of dominant
norms, particularly those relating to
sexuality, and the immiseration they cause to
those who cannot, or do not wish to, live
according to those norms.
8. 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 the text.
- focuses not on the text itself, but places in
the reader’s interpretation to the text instead.
THREE LEADERS OF BLACK HISTORY
1. BAYARD RUSTIN - was a close advisor to Martin
Luther King and an American leader of the civil rights
movement. Rustin organized and led several protests,
including the 1963 March on Washington.
2. JESSE OWENS - was an American track and field
athlete and four-time gold medalist in the 1936 Olympic
Games in Germany. Owens specialized in the sprints and
the long jump.
3. ZORA NEALE HURSTON - was an American author,
anthropologist, and filmmaker. In 1937, she published her
famous novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God.
ARTS AND LITERATURE SIGNIFICANT TO BLACK
HISTORY
: The writing of James Baldwin
: The music of Miles Davis
: The artwork of Alma Thomas
TALES AND HEROES
 The Thousand Nights and One Night - the focus of
the featured great book One Thousand and One
Nights is from the early Arabic Literature. Shahryar,
Scheherazade, Dunyazad.
 610-632 BC - according to Islamic belief, the Qur’an
(Arabic for “Recitation”) is revealed to Muhammad
by God.
 8th Century - a seven pre-Islamic poems collection
written in gold linen dating to the 6th Century were
collected and said to be up on the walls of the Kaaba
at Mecca. These poems are also known as Al-
Mu’allaqat (“hung poems”).
 c. 990-1008 - The stories in rhymed prose related to
the encounters of the witty Abul-Fath al-Iskanderi
were collected. This collection is called Maqamat
(“assemblies”) written by Badi’ al-Zaman al
Hamadani.
 13th Century - The Story of Bayad and Riyad was
written in Islamic Andalusia. This story is about the
love of the merchant’s son for the foreign court lady.
READING TECHNIQUES
1. PRE-READING/REVIEW - scan unfamiliar words
from the story they will read then list them on their notes.
- find the meanings of the words from their dictionary.
- cognitive process and decoding – process of thinking,
remembering, and recognizing information.
2. READING - group the words that go together to
comprehend what is carried out in the text. Enjoy the
story.
- obtaining ideas from the story and acquiring the
capacity to perceive and comprehend language.
3. CLARIFYING - stop reading when the text no longer
makes sense.
- repair the unclear concepts, structures, or passages
through re-reading and the use of context clues.
 Folktales are a long part of the tradition over Arab which
were orally passed down through many generations.
o But from the 8th century onwards along with
the development of Arabian urban centers and
culture under the rule of Islam, distinctions
were made between al-fus ‘ha (the refined
language taught at educational centers) and
al-ammiyah (the language of the common
people).
 Pre-Islamic literature written in the mother tongue –
including traditional folktales – fell out of favor of the
educated elite.
o The writers of the Arabic literature focused on
poetry and non-fiction and refused to compose
imaginary prose.
 Despite the focus on “high art” of the poetry, the
collection of tales called One Thousand and One Nights
on the Arabian Nights continued to be popular.
o This collection was made chaotically over serval
centuries and there were not officially accepted
as genuine versions of the tales.
 The One Thousand and One Nights takes the form of a
frame narrative.
o where one story contains another set of stories
within it.
o The framing device is the tale of Scheherazade
who averts her fate by withholding the ending of
stories she tells to delay her execution by the
king.
o After 1,001 nights, the king confessed that she
had changed his soul and pardons Scheherazade.
 The stories told by Scheherazade contains legendary
locations or historical figures such as Haroun al
Rashid(c.766-809), ruler of the Abbasid Caliphate during
the Islamic Golden Age.
 The various characteristics of the stories are responsible
for the wide variety of genres in the collection – from
adventure, romance, fairy tale, to horror, and neve
science fiction.
 It was not until the 18th century that the stories became
known in Europe, retold by French scholar Antonine
Galland in Les Mille et Une Nuits (1704-17).
o The manuscript from which Galland translated
was incomplete, making it shorter than 1,001
nights worth of stories.
o So he added the Arabic tales od “Ali Baba”,
“Aladdin”, and “Sinbad”. These were never
part of the original One Thousand and One
Nights.