ENGL 201: Introduction to Literature
Lecture notes for week 1
What is Literature & Some ways of Studying Literature
This week:
Definitions of literature
The role of language in literature
Characteristics of Literature
What is Literature?
Critics views:
1920s-30s: literature had certain properties that experts trained in this field could identify
(metaphor, meter, rhyme, irony, plot)
New Critics: gave importance to great works of literature and narrowed the literary
canon. New critics were male and interested in Western (and European) Literature and
culture , excluded literature of color and literature from the traditional cultures.
The concept has changed in the past 50 years:
John Ellis:
Literature is not defined by properties (rhyme, meter, image etc) because non-literary
works (adverts, songs, jokes) too have these properties.
Literature is identifiable with how people use it.
People use literature for enjoyment ( a physics book?)
Terry Eagleton:
Literature is a social construct (the concept of literature is created by the society)
Literature with shared inherent properties does not exist
Literature and literary canon are constructs established by the society
Anything can be literature (not necessarily Shakespeare)
Language (oral or written)
Most critics believe that language is a key aspect of literature
ENGL 201 (FCCU) Lecture Notes (Dr. N Langah) Page 1
, Authors use language in a special way:
For example:
Denotative meaning: use of language for its ability to provide signs that mean one thing
only
Connotative meaning: is the meaning that words have in addition to their direct meaning
(e.g., mother)
Literature is Language
Defamiliarization (Viktor Scklovsky, 1920s): language that is different from everyday
language. The art of making language unfamiliar, breaking conventions.
Example:
Nursery Rhyme:
Swan, swan, over the sea:
Swim, swan, swim!
Swan, swan back again;
Well swum swan
Literature is Fictional
Invented material: imaginative literature fantasy fiction
Stylized material: (newspaper report vs poem)
Stylized material (non-fiction)
Literature is True
Factual accuracy
Directly stated ideas (ideas about life that author wants to convey to readers) Author →
work → reader
Indirectly stated ideas: use of literary conventions (plot, metaphor, symbol, irony,
suspense)
Typical characters, probable actions: characters typify real people and they recount
events that can happen in real life
ENGL 201 (FCCU) Lecture Notes (Dr. N Langah) Page 2
, Literature is True
Concrete things represent ideas:
Example of a short allegory:
Fear knocked at the door.
Faith answered.
There was no one there.
Names can represent ideas:
Hamlet → Melancholy
Othello → Jealousy
Ophelia → innocence
Romeo → love sickness
Literature is Expression
Expression of the individuals who compose it
Reflects their personalities, emotions, styles, tastes, beliefs
As interpreters we have to determine objectively what the ideas of a given work reflect.
We don’t necessarily have to agree with them.
Literature as experience
The experience of reality
Literature is aesthetic
It gives pleasure (which is hard to define)
How?
The way writers are using literary conventions ( (metaphor, plot, symbolism, irony,
suspense)
Plot (order of events gives a sense of coherence)
Arrangement of language, connecting details, recognizable ideas
Aesthetic quality of literature is another way of looking for deeper meanings
ENGL 201 (FCCU) Lecture Notes (Dr. N Langah) Page 3
Lecture notes for week 1
What is Literature & Some ways of Studying Literature
This week:
Definitions of literature
The role of language in literature
Characteristics of Literature
What is Literature?
Critics views:
1920s-30s: literature had certain properties that experts trained in this field could identify
(metaphor, meter, rhyme, irony, plot)
New Critics: gave importance to great works of literature and narrowed the literary
canon. New critics were male and interested in Western (and European) Literature and
culture , excluded literature of color and literature from the traditional cultures.
The concept has changed in the past 50 years:
John Ellis:
Literature is not defined by properties (rhyme, meter, image etc) because non-literary
works (adverts, songs, jokes) too have these properties.
Literature is identifiable with how people use it.
People use literature for enjoyment ( a physics book?)
Terry Eagleton:
Literature is a social construct (the concept of literature is created by the society)
Literature with shared inherent properties does not exist
Literature and literary canon are constructs established by the society
Anything can be literature (not necessarily Shakespeare)
Language (oral or written)
Most critics believe that language is a key aspect of literature
ENGL 201 (FCCU) Lecture Notes (Dr. N Langah) Page 1
, Authors use language in a special way:
For example:
Denotative meaning: use of language for its ability to provide signs that mean one thing
only
Connotative meaning: is the meaning that words have in addition to their direct meaning
(e.g., mother)
Literature is Language
Defamiliarization (Viktor Scklovsky, 1920s): language that is different from everyday
language. The art of making language unfamiliar, breaking conventions.
Example:
Nursery Rhyme:
Swan, swan, over the sea:
Swim, swan, swim!
Swan, swan back again;
Well swum swan
Literature is Fictional
Invented material: imaginative literature fantasy fiction
Stylized material: (newspaper report vs poem)
Stylized material (non-fiction)
Literature is True
Factual accuracy
Directly stated ideas (ideas about life that author wants to convey to readers) Author →
work → reader
Indirectly stated ideas: use of literary conventions (plot, metaphor, symbol, irony,
suspense)
Typical characters, probable actions: characters typify real people and they recount
events that can happen in real life
ENGL 201 (FCCU) Lecture Notes (Dr. N Langah) Page 2
, Literature is True
Concrete things represent ideas:
Example of a short allegory:
Fear knocked at the door.
Faith answered.
There was no one there.
Names can represent ideas:
Hamlet → Melancholy
Othello → Jealousy
Ophelia → innocence
Romeo → love sickness
Literature is Expression
Expression of the individuals who compose it
Reflects their personalities, emotions, styles, tastes, beliefs
As interpreters we have to determine objectively what the ideas of a given work reflect.
We don’t necessarily have to agree with them.
Literature as experience
The experience of reality
Literature is aesthetic
It gives pleasure (which is hard to define)
How?
The way writers are using literary conventions ( (metaphor, plot, symbolism, irony,
suspense)
Plot (order of events gives a sense of coherence)
Arrangement of language, connecting details, recognizable ideas
Aesthetic quality of literature is another way of looking for deeper meanings
ENGL 201 (FCCU) Lecture Notes (Dr. N Langah) Page 3
