INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY STUDIES
EXAMINATION TOPICS
Functions of literature.
1. an entertaining function,
2. an informative function,
3. an aesthetic function, and last but not least,
4. an intellectual function.
An entertaining function of literature consists in giving us pleasure. What is it that makes literature pleasant? A variety of features can make a literary work delightful. It depends on the reader and his or her taste. A book of adventures will be pleasant reading for many young and adult readers. Others will read thrillers and police novels for pleasure and enjoyment. A few, however, will find this type of reading unworthy of notice. They will rather read literature to expand the knowledge of the past, present or future world. They seek information in literature. A certain percentage of readers achieve aesthetic and/or intellectual experience in literature. They read literature because it offers them a unique delight or satisfaction or some sort of truth which they are looking for. Literature has one more function: (5) it contributes to social integration. Literature is a common cultural heritage of mankind. It also integrates, preserves, and improves a national language.
Intertextuality.
Intertextuality refers to the relationships between different works of literature. A literary text is treated as a dialogue with other texts.
Literary language and the language of literature.
Literary or standard language is a historical category and it is a variety of the national language. The national language has two distinct varieties: the spoken and the written. The spoken variety is primary and the written one is secondary. The spoken variety differs from the written one in many ways. One of the most obvious differences is the choice of words. Some words are characteristic only of the oral (or colloquial) variety whereas others are usually found in written texts only. The written language is more exact than the spoken one owing to a number of connective words, such as eventually, possibly, likewise, therefore, thus, however, henceforward, etc. Sentences in the written language are usually well-formed, complex, and coherent. Also the syntactical patterns of the written language are different from the oral variety. Literary (standard) language has a number of functional styles. We can distinguish at least the following functional styles of modern standard English:
1) the style of imaginative literature
2) the style of science and scholarship
3) the style of official documents
4) the style of technical and commercial information.
The language of literature (fiction) is a complex category. It may include literary (standard) language as well as many varieties of language: dialects, slang, etc. The language of literature may be didactic, philosophical, lyrical (poetic) and satirical. Language may be employed in fiction as a tool for retrospection and for the creation of specific imagery.
Content and form in a literary text.
Content is what a literary work says; what it is about. Form is the way in which it says it, how it is written. Content is thus the substance of a literary work which includes its theme, motif, subject matter and message. Form denotes the structure or the manner of construction of a literary work; it denotes the genre to which a literary work belongs, e.g. sonnet, ode, novel, short story, etc.
Of course, we should bear in mind that this distinction is arbitrary and many critics, especially those following the tradition of the New Criticism, will use the term structure instead of form. However, this latter term is not equivocal and some other critics make a distinction between form and structure.
The theme of a literary work, spatial and temporal setting.
Plot, minor plot, major plot, plot structure (climactic, episodic structure), physical plot, psychological plot.
The high and low style in traditional literary theory.
Satire.
Alliteration and onomatopoeia.
Simile and metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche.
The characteristic features of epic and lyric poetry.
Ballad, ode, sonnet, pastoral poetry.
Iambic pentametre.
Rhythm and rhyme. Internal rhyme, assonance.
Blank verse and free verse.
Types of irony.
Classical literary genres and some new literary genres.
Monologue, dialogue, soliloquy, aside (in a drama).
The origins of drama. The medieval dramatic genres.
The main elements of a dramatic play.
Explain the difference between the climactic and episodic structure of a dramatic
play.
Features of tragedy. Tragic vision.
Features of comedy, farce, tragicomedy, modern tragicomedy (theatre of absurd).
Flashback, foreshadowing.
Physical & psychological plot.
Protagonist and antagonist (in tragedy).
Symbol and symbolism.
Catharsis, comic relief (in tragedy), tragic relief (in comedy), dramatic irony, deux ex machina.
Novel, types of novels, short story, fable, tale, fairy tale.
Rhetorical question.
Conceit, oxymoron.
Verisimilitude.
Mock epic poetry.
Dramatic monologue.
Characters; flat (static) and round (dynamic characters).
Dialogue, monologue and soliloquy (in drama)
Hamartia, hubris, peripeteia, three unities (in a drama).
Narration, narrator (omniscient, non-omniscient).
Frame narrative (or frame story).
Stream-of-consciousness or interior monologue.