mgr Barbara

mgr Barbara Braid

Braid

Szczecin

Szczecin University

University 2013

2013

Look at the examples of texts below. Are
they oral or written? Are they literature?
Justify your answer.

THINK AND

DISCUSS!

Little Red Riding

Harry Potter and

Judas by

Lady Gaga

A Brief History of

Time by Stephen

Hawking

Little Red Riding

Hood

50 Shades

of Gray by

E. L. James

Harry Potter and

Deadly Hallows by J.K.

Rowling

The

Times

The

Bible

‘literature’ = Latin littera –
letter. So, is literature
everything that’s
written?

there are texts which are

there are texts which are
not literature; also, there
is oral literature as well

‘literature’ = imaginative
writing, uses a specific
language

What is denotation and connotation?

Think about the word bird. What is its literal
meaning = denotation? What additional
meaning can it have? What feelings,
images does it evoke?

THINK

AND

DISCUSS!

images does it evoke?

Now think about connotations for these
kinds of birds: hawk, dove, penguin,
peacock, chicken, crow, owl, vulture.

Connotations are useful for poetry because
they allow it to be suggestive and
economical at the same time.

literature is a form of
discourse (communication,
in speech and writing)
which is constituted of such
features which differentiate

features which differentiate
it from other discourses

widespread use of
connotations

creative expression of
individual experiences

it has universal appeal

work of art

does not exist independent of its context

uses certain conventions and techniques
of expression

of expression

form and content are fused together

conflict and contrast are the most
characteristic organising principles

presents personal experience

requires analysis and interpretation

Why do you read
literature?

If you were obliged
to read, e.g. at
school, think about

THINK AND

DISCUSS!

school, think about
the reasons those
who obliged you
had.

With your partner
enumerate as many
reasons as you can.

entertaining function – we read for fun

informative function – we read to
expand our knowledge

aesthetic function – we read for the

aesthetic function – we read for the
unique artistic value of the work

intellectual function – we read for
intellectual satisfaction/ to find some sort
of truth

social function – to integrate with the
common cultural heritage of mankind

Who do you agree with most? Discuss the
opinions below with your partner.

THINK

AND

DISCUSS!

ART FOR

ART’S

ABOVE ALL,

LITERATURE

SHOULD MAKE US

ART’S

SAKE!

SHOULD MAKE US

BETTER PEOPLE

LITERATURE

SHOULD BE AN

ACCURATE

REPRESENTATIO

N OF LIFE

LITERATURE IS

JUST A

REFLECTION OF

THE EPOCH IT

WAS WRITTEN IN

mimetic/ naturalistic approach – the role of literature
is to give an accurate and fair representation of the
world (19th and 20th c. – E. Zola)

historical/ biographical approach – a literary work
reflects the contemporary beliefs, opinions and

reflects the contemporary beliefs, opinions and
prejudices of the author and his/ her times

moral/ philosophical approach – the aim of literature
is to instruct (18th c. – S. Johnson)

›

sectarian approach – critics will seek proof of views which
the author did not share (e.g. marxists)

aesthetic approach – escapism, sublimation of
beauty, art (literature) has no other purpose but itself
(19th - 20th c. – Pre-Raphaelites, O. Wilde)

reading = an active process of the mind
to get the message of information from
the text

›

comprehension (an elaborate process which
involves making inferences about individual

involves making inferences about individual
and complex senses in a literary world and
to extra-textual reality)

›

interpretation (meaning created by the
author is processed by a reader)

›

feeling (a reader confronts and compares
his/her experience of life with the literary
text)

‘naive’ (incompetent) reader

›

focuses on the surface meaning of a literary
text

›

does not want to uncover deeper/ more
complex meanings in the text

complex meanings in the text

critical (competent) reader

›

equipped with a sufficient literary and
cultural knowledge

›

has competence to analyse and interpret
the complex meaning of a literary text

Who determines the
meaning of the text: the
author or the reader?

What is the traditional
view of the author,

THINK AND

DISCUSS!

view of the author,
meaning and the text?

What are the problems
with this view?

How can we determine
the meaning of the text?

context

message

receiver

contact

code

sender (author)

message

(literary

text)

receiver

(reader)

it shows that any kind of message, including that
contained in imaginative literature, is transmitted
from a sender to a receiver via a medium

the message is coded by a sender and then
decoded by a receiver

decoded by a receiver

contact = medium (book, e-book, audio book, etc.)

code = language (+ translation), plus style, tone,
figures of speech, etc.

Consequences of this view: assumption that the text
has one definite meaning; it’s about cracking the
code and solving the riddle

according to this view, it is common
sense to assume that ‘I’ in the work
of literature is the author

there’s one definite meaning that
the reader has to decode

you can get the clues about what

you can get the clues about what
the text means from extra-textual
sources, e.g. a letter the author
wrote to his/her friend –
‘autobiographical criticism’

the author is somehow ‘present’ in
the text, talking to us readers

if literature was a code, there would be no
need for literature

there’s no one shared cypher for a code in
this case

the autobiographical evidence from an

the autobiographical evidence from an
author’s life can be a lie, or were written in
a certain historical and sociological
environment and were influenced by it

there’s no one correct interpretation of a
text! It will depend not only on each
particular reader, but also on when you
read the work of literature!

TEXT

interpreted by

READER

TEXT

interpreted by

READER

2

the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation
of literature

not synonymous with literary theory – philosophical
discussion of methods and goals of literary criticism

literary theory can be applied to literary criticism

two opposite approaches to literary study:

›

intrinsic/ formalistic – interpretation for the works
of literature without reference to their historical
context/ life of the author

›

extrinsic – relating works of literature to historical,
economic or psychological contexts

elements of literary criticism:

›

genre classification

›

analysis of the structure and style of literary work

›

interpretation of literary work

›

interpretation of literary work

the purpose of literary criticism:

›

better understanding of a literary work

›

better interpretation of literature

›

appreciating and evaluating literature

examples: Aristotle’s Poetics (4th c. BC),
Horace’s Ars Poetica (19th c. BC)

LITERARY THEORIES

TEXT-ORIENTED

CONTEXT-

TEXT-ORIENTED

Philology

Rhetoric

Formalism and

Structuralism

New Criticism

Semiotics and

Deconstruction

AUTHOR-ORIENTED

Biographical

Criticism

Psychoanalytic

Criticism

Phenomenology

READER-ORIENTED

Reception Theory

Reception History

Reader-Response

Criticism

CONTEXT-

ORIENTED

Literary History

Marxist Literary

Theory

Feminist Literary

Theory

New Historicism and

Cultural Studies

oral vs. written

forms of literature:

›

poetry (narrative, lyric, etc.)

›

drama

›

prose

genres:

genres:

›

poetry: epic heroic, the mock epic, modern epic, ballad, eclogues,
sonnet, dramatic monologue, elegy, ode, etc.

›

drama: tragedy, comedy, farse, tragicomedy, masque, closet drama,
heoric drama, etc.

›

prose: novel, short story, legend, fable, fairy tale, parable, romance, saga
etc.

other divisions:

›

popular literature

›

children’s literature

›

ethnic literature…

Think about some
examples of
interrelations
between
literature and:

THINK AND

DISCUSS!

literature and:

›

history

›

religion

›

art

›

philosophy

›

myth

›

film

in pairs, in
chronological order,
write down as many
periods in history of
English literature(s) as
you can

THINK AND

DISCUSS!

you can

try to name some
characteristic
features of those
periods and/or some
examples of famous
works/ writers

Old English / Anglo-Saxon period (5th – 11th
century)

Middle Ages (11th – 15th century)

Renaissance (16th – 17th century)

Renaissance (16th – 17th century)

Augustan Age / Englightenment (18th century)

Romantic period (first half of the 19th century)

Victorian age (second half of the 19th century)

Modernism (1920s – 1950s)

Contemporary period/ Postmodernism (1960s –
now)

The Puritan Age / Colonial Age (17th –
18th century)

Romantic period / American
Renaissance (1st half of the 19th century)

Renaissance (1st half of the 19th century)

Realism and Naturalism (second half of
the 19th century)

Modernism (1900 – 1945)

Contemporary period / Postmodernism
(1945 – now)