LECTURE ONE

Introduction to literature

Course Objectives:
This course is intended to:
-Introduce students to literature in general.
- Enable the students to know about the different literary genres.
- Present some difference between first and secondary sources in literature.

In fact, there is no single definition that can encompass what is meant by literature. Readers
and researchers will be struck by the vagueness of the usage and various attempts to define what
is meant by literature. Generally, however, all aesthetic or artistic ,written or oral productions
that are valued as works of art can be called literature. Etymologically, the Latin word
“litteratura”, meant for literature, is derived from “littera” (letter), which is the smallest element
of alphabetical writing. (Klarks 3)

What is noteworthy is that literature has been invented by a certain category of people in
different places and different categories depending on their vision of the world. It is meant to
construct a model of human communication which differentiates yet connects different kinds
of literary productions. As such, the act of categorizing a text itself as literature is a creative
act.

Literature refers to a deliberately artistic writing respecting certain existing literary tradition
where what is said matters as much as where and how it is said. Besides being sometimes
factual and realistic, literary texts rely on creativity, imagination, and subjectivity. Regardless
of its nature, literature is a kind of writing that only a few specially talented people are of , but
which is relevant, accessible, and admired by a larger population. (Rainsford 8).

Actually, Literature is the oral and written expression which also exploits the artistic
dimension of language and which is meant to entertain and enlighten. Literature is called artistic
creation. It essentially relies on an imaginative actor,that is the act of the writers' imagination
in selecting, ordering and interpreting life experience. A work of literature does not necessarily
give us accurate account information about the way life is actually lived -although it may do so
as a secondary consideration- rather, it causes us to recognize truths about human existence
through the direct presentation of selected experiences instead of telling us about the way people
act and feel. It involves us in these actions and directs our responses to them.

What is literature

Due to the absence of writing and due to the human desire to leave behind a trace
through artistic expression, the very early creative manifestations were in the form of prehistoric
paintings in caves encoding information in a visual manner. While some researchers often relate
these visual artistic productions to literature, others either ignore it or put it in other category
(Klarer 1)

Other early civilizations used a sort of oral form of literature. Literature started in the
old times as long mythical tales and epics telling the stories of heroes and gods whose conducts
served as a model for the communities. This was mainly through poetry and songs which were
the earliest means used to preserve and convey literary traditions, and they have persisted to the
present as forms of literature. Other forms, like drama and narrative prose, appeared later and
received their greatest impetus from the ancient Greeks. The dramatic tragedies of Aeschylus,
Sophocles, and Euripides, as well as the comedies of Aristophanes, were all written in poetic
form, but they were a new way of executing poetry in contrast to earlier lyric poetry or the epic.
Poetry as drama, brilliantly developed by the Greeks, continued to be used with great effect by
a number of other authors. These include a wide range including, to name only two,
Shakespeare during the Renaissance and T. S. Eliot in the 20th century. Literature was oral and
in verse until the discovery of the writing syllables and after the printing machine.

Most literature published today is in the form of prose, a term that covers the essay,
novel, philosophical treatises, histories, and modern journalism. From ancient Greece and
Rome and the Middle East there have survived a large number of remarkable and readable prose
works, including the writings of the physician Hippocrates; the mathematical treatises of
Archimedes; the philosophical books of Plato, Aristotle and Marcus Aurelius; the historical
writings of Herodotus, Polybius, Suetonius, Livy, and Tacitus; and the essays of Seneca and
Plutarch.

Narrative fiction, the novel and short story were the latest literary forms to develop
and belong mostly to the modern period. Prose fiction did, however, have some few antecedents
in the ancient world. The Greeks wrote romances and adventure stories comparable in length
to a long short story. The first really extended piece of fiction that deserved to be called a novel
was the 'Satyricon' by the Roman Petronius Arbiter who died about AD 66. Although existing
today only in fragments, it is believed to have been a delightful novel, filled with roguish
characters and their mischievous exploits.

Literature has long been held to instruct and entertain, but the instruction has never
been in the form of precise and limited lessons. If works of literature continue to instruct through
various ages, it is because it is living experience and not abstract information that is
communicated. Literature is often said to be a school of life, in that authors tend to comment
on the conduct of society and of individuals in society. They either point out what they see as
important issues in human affairs or propose ideal alternatives to the way things actually are.
The customs and mores of a particular social group or of individuals, their inspirations and
values may be explored and exposed.

In literature, the very way in which language is used to express subject matters is likely
to differ widely from everyday usage. Literary expression depends very heavily on subtle
comparisons and contrasts of register which need not even to be grammatically correct. Reading
serious literature requires special instructions and training over and above that for reading the
newspaper or writing a business letter.

The medium of expression is words as they are spoken or written, but these are not just
sounds, but sounds which have meanings and associations. In literature, there are two ways of
using words: artistic and non-artistic.

The artistic way appeals to the feelings. It is the one where the words have many associations.
This association of words is called in literature connotation. For example, the word mother has
many connotations like love, affection, etc.

The non-artistic way is when we have words as they appear in the dictionary. This use is
more specific. It is lexical. In literature, we call it denotation. For instance, the word mother
refers to a female parent of a child.

What is a Literary Text?

The word text referring to literary texts in literature is related to textile or fabric. Just as
different thread make a fabric so are words and sentences in making a meaningful text. The
origins of the two terms ‘Literature’ and ‘Text’ are, therefore, not of great help in defining
literature or text. It is more enlightening to look at literature or text as cultural and historical
phenomena and to look at the various conditions of their production as well as reception (Klarks
3).

Literary genres

The classification of literary works has been a major concern of literary theory and has
often produced a number of divergent categories. The term literary genre sometimes refers to
the classical literary forms of epic, drama and poetry. This classification, however, is confusing
especially for modern readers since epic is written in poetry but it is not classified as poetry. A
more modern classification is poetry (verse), drama, and prose (fiction or prose fiction). Besides
these genres, the term ‘text type’ has been introduced under the influence of linguists referring
to texts that are worthy for textual analysis but do not belong to the canonical genres of fiction,
drama, and poetry. These texts include texts as instruction manuals, sermons, obituaries,
advertising texts, catalogues, and scientific or scholarly writing, etc. They can, of course, also
include the three main literary genres and their sub-genres (Klarks 3-4).

Each of the canonical genres is a form of expression that has its own characteristics and
its specific rules. What is worth mentioning, however, is that there are some, if not many,
published works that belong to no literary genre and have been of great interest owing to the
quality of their writing and ideas they discuss. Examples can be drawn from almost every field
of writing falling under the category of text type. The dialogues of Plato are written with great
narrative skill and beauty. The founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, produced several
books and essays that deserve reading not only for the ideas they express, but also for the
powerful echoing style they are written with. Rulers and political theorists have also produced
works of great influence and quality. Such writers include Niccolo Machiavelli ('The Prince'),
John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Winston Churchill.

When it comes to the classical literary division, what should be noticed is that is in
poetry words are very important. The poet has to choose and make a selection of the words he
is to use in his poem. He has to be like a craftsman whose raw material is language which he
has to model in order to produce a piece of art and make words say more than what they
usually do.
 Drama is another genre of literature where actors perform a play for the theatre, radio
or television. The plays are written either in verse form, or in prose.

Fiction is the latest literary genre to appear mainly thanks to the development of printing.
It is written in prose and it comprises the publication of novels, novellas and short stories.

Primary and Secondary Sources in Literature

Literary studies distinguish between two types of literary texts which are primary
sources and secondary one. While the former refers to original artistic literary productions by
creative writers, the latter refers to analysis of artistic productions through a scholarly treatment
resulting in a new critical text. Primary sources refer to traditional objects of analysis in literary
criticism, including texts from all literary genres. Secondary sources can in the form of to texts
such as articles, essays, book reviews and notes published primarily in scholarly journals.

Although relying on creativity, to a certain extent, secondary sources (critical literary texts)
aim at applying and upholding scholarly standards which have become a well-established quasi
scientific discourse in the way it relies on objectivity, lucid arguments, documentation, and
validity. Among these elements are: footnotes or endnotes, comments on the main text or
references to further secondary or primary sources; a list of works cited; and, possibly, an index
(Klarks 4-7)

Study question

Relying on the suggested list of further readings, try to look for and examine the
different presented definitions of literature and provide your own.