INTRODUCTION TO INTAKE 1st

SEMESTER
LITERATURE Eka Fitriana, MA
Agus Saputra, SS., M. Pd
 WHAT IS LITERATURE
General assumption:
Literature refers to works based on imagination
Literature strongly tight and bound with one’s feeling
Literature is irrational
Literature is illogical
Literature has no contribution in the academic sphere
 FACTS ABOUT LITERATURE
Literature:
Not just an aesthetic object or artifact
It is the world of human
It is a record of human civilization
It expresses the thought, ideas, logic, vision, mission, principles
of life, etc
It is a medium used to propose cultures and languages
 NOTIONS AND DEFINITIONS
Literature is derived from:
Latin word litteratura which refers to form or piece of writing
While in Indonesian, it is known as sastra or kesusastraan
The word sas and tra is from Sanskrit language which means to construct, to
teach or to direct. It is also imply the meaning as medium or tool.
Therefore sastra can be said as a medium of teaching or instruction
Yet, literature also known as balles-letters (French) which refers to beautiful
words to express one’s emotion
 NOTIONS AND DEFINITIONS
CONTD …
Warren and Wellek: literature not just merely expressions in form of printed
and written writings but also in oral and spoken expressions
Eagleton: not just limited on the imaginative or fictional writings but also
factual writing such as news
Castle: literature should be viewed as a creative work
Frost: performance in words
 THEORIES OF LITERATURE
Memetic:
This concept is emphasizing on literature is an imitation of
human life, the reality and the universe. Since, it focuses on those
things therefore the use of language does not become the primary
concern when writing such a story.
Plato states that literary work is a copy of reality which directed
transferred into the work of arts by the writer or author. Later on
the concept is revised, where the process of copying is in the
mental side of the author with creativity involve in the writing.
 UNCLE’S TOM’S CABIN
(HARRIET BEECHER STOWE)
Being opposed to the existence of slavery, she used the fact of
slavery to be the prominent source of inspiration to write her story.
Through her imagination and creativity, she made up the
characters in her story which were not found in real life but it
correspondence to the real fact happened during the time.
So, literature not just merely about the copying what is in the
reality, but it is actually the reflection of human life, thought,
ideas, principles, etc.
 THORIES OF LITRATURE
CONTD ….
Expressive:
The word express refers to the feeling which is closely related to one’s heart.
Therefore the expressive theory is defined as an expression of the author’s
emotion or conscience. The emotion is related to one’s mental side which
contains awareness, honesty and truth.
Wordsworth defines literature as spontaneous expression of the author’s
feeling. Furthermore, he precisely said that poetry as a spontaneously
overflow of powerful feelings. Since those feeling emerge spontaneously
therefore, it shows genuine and real truth.
THE AFFECTIVE THEORY
•This theory holds that a piece of art ought to arouse some
emotion or at least affect the perceiver in some way
In Alexander Pope’s words, the artist
“Gives my heart a thousand pains
Can make make me feel each passion that he feigns
Enrage,compose,with more than magic of art
With pity and with terror tear my heart
And snatch me o’er the earth or through the air
To Thebes, to Athens, when he will, and where “
THE AFFECTIVE THEORY (CONTD.)

•These theories also hold that stimulation of certain emotions is

good
•Most readers seek emotional stimulus from books and they
want to identify themselves with the central character
•It also insists that the main aim is not to induce a temporary
emotional state, but to induce an emotional state that will lead to
some kind of action
•Finally as Ezekiel Phalele says , the best poetry is one, that has
a ‘memorable’ expression of ‘revolutionary passion and ideas’
TENTATIVE CONCLUSIONS

Back to the opening question : What is Literature?

The simple truth is that there is no satisfactory answer !
But it is possible for us to say that works of art:
•Give an insight into reality ( as the imitative theory holds)
•Broaden our awareness of possibilities of experience( as the
expressive theory holds )
•They valuably affect our nervous system (as the affective theory
holds)
However, all of these theories need not hold for a piece of art.
They just contribute to a deeper and a more conscious awareness
of what is valuable in the works we read.