What is Literature?

According to Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing:  Literature broadly refers to “compositions that tell stories, dramatize situations, express emotions, and analyze and advocate ideas” (Roberts 3).

 For our purposes, and the purposes of CSU/UC transfer requirements, we will use literature to develop our ability to analyze the world around us.

 The way people analyze literature is the same way people analyze:  History  Politics  Religion  Other people (like psychology)  Relationships  The world

 The way people analyze literature is the same way people analyze:  History  Politics  Religion  Other people (like psychology)  Relationships  The world

 That’s why understanding how we understand literature is important.

Literature  What is literature?  Books?  Poems?  Novels?  Plays?  Music  Movies?  TV shows?  Cartoons?  Advertisements?  Posters?  Laws/legal documents?  Religious Texts?  Photographs?  Paintings?  The back of a cereal box?

 In groups of no more than 4:  1. The writer is the person with the most letters in his or her first name.  2. Decide what type of things can be considered literature. Poetry? Novels? Movies?  3. Define literature without looking the word up in the dictionary.

Literature, Con’t  At the very least, literature is different from anything else because literature has been selected for publication (Culler 27).  Therefore, we assume it has been selected because it is valuable.  This semester, we will define the term “valuable” as it relates to literature.

Literature, Con’t  At the very least, literature is different from anything else because literature has been selected for publication (Culler 27).  Therefore, we assume it has been selected because it is valuable.  This semester, we will define the term “valuable” as it relates to literature.

The Functions of Literature There are many ideas about the function of literature. We will look at two opposing ideas this semester:  1. Literature is a means to convey cultural ideology.  VS.  2. Literature is a means to question cultural ideology.

Literature as a Means to Convey Cultural Ideology  Cultural ideology contains all the ideas, myths, and stories a culture uses to control the behavior of its population  Most people agree that literature presents cultural ideas as if those ideas were universal.  Thus, we can hypothesize that literature has a national function: it presents a model for behavior to its citizens.

Literature as a Means to Convey Cultural Ideology  We would imagine that the author is trying to teach us something about our cultural ideology:  a moral  a lesson  a way of life

Literature as a Means to Convey Cultural Ideology  This means the author is trying to convey some kind of overall meaning or message to the reader.

Overall Meaning or Message  Form groups of no more than 4  The writer is the person with the fewest numbers of letters in his or her first name.`  Review Samurai Jack “The Archers.”  What overall meaning or message is the show trying to convey (limit 1-2 sentences)? Try to incorporate all the elements of the show.

 Explain HOW you know this was the story’s message (use analysis, not summary)

 Group 1:

Overall Meaning or Message  Form groups of no more than 4  Review “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.”  What overall meaning or message is the author trying to convey (limit 1-2 sentences)?

Overall Meaning or Message  Form groups of no more than 4  Review “Hills Like White Elephants.”  What overall meaning or message is the author trying to convey (limit 1-2 sentences)?



Literature as a Means to Convey Cultural Ideology  This means the author is trying to convey some kind of overall meaning or message to the reader.

Culture Itself  Of course to accept this, you have to accept that no part of cultural ideology is inherent, or natural, to the human animal.  Rather, all rules of behavior are taught to its members.

 This theory may help you to critically analyze the works we read this semester.

Consider the Disney version of The Little Mermaid. In this story, the Little Mermaid sacrifices her voice to a witch in exchange for the love of a prince. The prince loves her, but she cannot talk. In the end, she is married off, happily ever after.

 However, the original story has a much different ending and therefore teaches a much different lesson  In this story, the Little Mermaid sacrifices her voice to a witch in exchange for the love of a prince. The prince decides to marry another woman (one with a voice) and the Little Mermaid dies in the ocean.

 For example, imagine you want a population that defines “family” as the marriage between a man and a woman as well as the offspring that marriage produces.  You would offer the population models of that type of family in literature.

 Now you don’t have to accept queer theory (or anything else for that matter) as true.  However, for the first half of the semester, we will CONSIDER literature as a means to convey a culture’s ideology.  Remember, that’s a working hypothesis: it’s not fact.

Therefore, we will assume every story is trying to communicate a concrete and specific meaning to its audience.

Work Cited  Culler, Jonathon. Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.