ASEAN LITERATURE: THE MEANING, QUALITIES, AND IMPORTANCE OF LITERATURE; minds of almost any reader.
almost any reader. The appeal is considered universal due to its ability to
ELEMENTS
Literature (the origin of the term litera which means letters) deals with ideas,
thoughts, and emotions of man – thus it can be said that literature is the story of man.
Seven Literary Standards of Literature
Artistry
It has an aesthetic appeal to everyone and thus possesses a sense of beauty. Artistry
describes literature that is aesthetically appealing and reveals or conveys hidden truth
and beauty. This type of literature appeals to broad audiences and possesses a sense
of beauty in the writing that could even feel poetic.
Intellectual Value
Literature stimulates critical thinking that enriches mental processes of abstract and
reasoning, making man realize the fundamental truths of life and its nature.
Suggestiveness
Literature unravels and conjures man’s emotional power to define symbolisms,
nuances, implied meanings, images and messages, giving and evoking visions above
and beyond the plane of ordinary life and experience.
Spiritual Value
Literature elevates the spirit and the soul and this has the power to motivate and
inspire, drawn from the suggested morals or lessons of the different literary genres.
Permanence
Literature endures across time and draws out the time factor: timeliness, occurring
at a particular time, and timelessness, remaining invariable throughout time.
Style
Literature represents peculiar way/s on how man sees life as evidenced by the
formation of his ideas, forms, structures, and expressions which are marked by their
memorable substances.
Universality
It appeals to everyone regardless of culture, race, sex, and time which are considered
significant. Universality describes a piece of writing that appeals to the hearts and
cross gender, racial, and cultural barriers, regardless of the time it’s written.
Genre of Literature
Fiction
The word is from the Latin FICTIŌ, “the act of making, fashioning, or molding.”
A literature created from the imagination, not presented as fact, though it may be
based on a true story or situation.
Narrator / Narrative Voice
Omniscient - a story told in the third person; the narrator's knowledge, control, and
prerogatives are unlimited, allowing “authorial” subjectivity.
Limited Omniscient - a story told in the third person in which the narrative voice is
associated with a major or minor character who is not able to “see/know” all, may
only be able to relate the thoughts of one or some characters but not others, may not
know what happened “off stage” or in the past.
Interior Monologue – first-person, train of thought “overheard” by the reader (NOT
spoken out loud as is a monologue), or sometimes “overheard” and reported by an
omniscient narrator; other times it occurs as a stream of consciousness.
Subjective Narration - first person, the narrator seems unreliable, tries to get readers
to share his/her side or to assume values or views not usually presumed by the reader.
Detached Autobiography – first person, a reliable narrator that guides the reader.
The narrator is the main character, often reflecting on a past "self” – sometimes an
adult recounting an event from childhood. When it is the latter, it is important to
notice “how” the adult voice affects the child’s story.
Memoir or Observer Narration - first person, the narrator is an observer rather than
a main participant; the narrator can be confidant(e), eyewitness or "chorus" (provides
offstage or background information). This narrator can be reliable or unreliable.
Elements of Fiction (CHARACTERS)
Character is the mental, emotional, and social qualities to distinguish one entity from
another (people, animals, spirits, automatons, pieces of furniture, and other
animated objects).
Character development is the change that a character undergoes from the beginning
of a story to the end. The importance of a character to the story determines how fully
the character is developed.
Characterization – the techniques that the author uses to develop the personality of
a character in a literary work.
• Physical appearance and personality
• Speech, behavior, and action
• Thoughts and feelings
• Interaction with other characters
The protagonist is the character who drives the action--the character whose fate
matters most. In other words, they are involved in —and often central to—the plot
or conflict of the story, but are also usually the emotional heart of the narrative.
The antagonist is the opposer or combatant working against the protagonist's or
leading characters' goal (“antagonizing”) and creating the main conflict. The
antagonist can be one character or a group of characters. In traditional narratives, the
antagonist is synonymous with
A static character is one that doesn't change from the start of the story through to
the end.
A dynamic character is one who changes and evolves throughout the story.
Flat characters are two-dimensional in that they are relatively uncomplicated and do
not change throughout the course of a work.
A round character refers to a character in a fictional work with depth or a complex
personality. This character type seems lifelike to readers because they learn many
details about them, such as their history, thoughts, emotions and personality traits.
Elements of Fiction
(Setting)
The time and place in which the action occurs.
Approaches to Literary Criticism
Formalism
Formalism compels readers to judge the artistic merit of literature by examining its
formal elements, like language and technical skill. Formalism favors a literary canon
of works that exemplify the highest standards of literature, as determined by
formalist critics.
Moral-philosophical criticism
This literary criticism style approaches literature based on its ethical merits. Moral-
philosophical critics evaluate literary works based on the moral statements and
judgments the characters and author express throughout the literary text.
New Historicism
Deals with the cultural context during the writing of the piece of literature. - this
approach interprets literature for its meaning or idea in a particular sociohistorical
atmosphere - how the history happened
Feminist criticism
Looks at literature assuming its production from a male-dominated perspective. It re-
examines canonical works to show how gender stereotypes are involved in their
functioning. It examines (and often rediscovers) works by women for a possible
alternative voice.
The Marxist criticism
An approach to diagnosing political and social problems in terms of the struggles
between members of different socio-economic classes. Drawing from this approach,
criticism does not aim at the flaws of particular individuals, even if they have attained
positions of power.