Introduction to Literary Studies A variety of literary works in: A variety of literary works in: Several literary genres by Several literary genres by Writers from around the world, Writers from around the world, Writing in English, and Writing in English, and Writing during different literary periods. Writing during different literary periods.

INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY STUDIES Background and orientation

Outcomes: Providing a broad outline of A variety of literary works in A variety of literary works in Several literary genres by Several literary genres by Writers from around the world, Writers from around the world, Writing in English, and Writing in English, and Writing during different literary periods. Writing during different literary periods.

An introduction to: Reading texts that use different forms and styles of English, Reading texts that use different forms and styles of English, Methods of literary analysis and Methods of literary analysis and Techniques to use for academic essay writing Techniques to use for academic essay writing

a letter “Literature” comes from the Latin term “litteratura” — a letter. Over centuries, it has acquired added meanings. (If people can read, we say they are LITERATE, meaning that they “know their letters”.)BUT Literature “letter” man of letterswoman of letters Literature still retains its original meaning of “letter” in that an author is sometimes called a “man of letters” or a “woman of letters”.

What makes writing different from the other expressive arts? A quill pen, the writers’ implement until technology intervened. A quill pen, the writers’ implement until technology intervened.

Each Creative Art requires the artist to express an imaginative specific medium or technology vision by using a specific medium or technology: Each Creative Art requires the artist to express an imaginative specific medium or technology vision by using a specific medium or technology:

specific medium In literature, the specific medium that writers use is words, whether the writer writes: Imaginative vision and words (images, metaphors and symbols) form the writer’s craft.

literature In literature, analysis involves identifying: the parts of speech, the elements of style, the modes of narration and the literary conventions each author uses. The OED defines literary analysis as: “The investigation of any production of the intellect – a poem, tale, argument, philosophical system – so as to exhibit its component elements in simple form”.

Sometimes we call the analysis of literary texts “critical analysis”. General definition: General definition: “The action of criticizing, or passing judgement upon the qualities or merits of anything” (OED) and can be positive or negative. Literary Criticism “Literary Criticism” is the “… art of estimating the qualities and character of literary or artistic work; the function or work of a critic”.

Criticismcritical analysis “Criticism” or “critical analysis” means different things to different critics, depending on their point of view. As you continue studying literature, you will discover different critical schools. These include: formalist, psychological, sociological, Marxist and cultural criticism.

literaturewriting Yet “literature” and “writing” are perhaps misnomers (incorrect terms) for the verbal arts. oral form In Europe and Africa, literature began as an oral form, performed before the community. Only later was it written down. For many centuries, written literature was a minority form, carried out by those who were educated: not just the wealthy and the powerful, but also those in religious orders (monks, friars, nuns and priests). English But we’re concerned with English Literature

The possible answers are: “Yes”, No” and “When do you mean?” When the Romans invaded England in 55 BC, the English we speak today did not exist. Celtic The many “tribes” (communities) of Ancient Britons spoke Celtic (a set of Indo-European languages and cultures spread across Europe). Celtic languages Celtic languages survive today on the edges of the United Kingdom: in Scotland (Scots Gaelic), Ireland (Gaelic or Erse) and Wales (Welsh). English is now the dominant language and Celtic languages have been reduced to minority status.

Language, Literature, Culture and Power The language that people speak and write is intimately linked to their culture and history. English language and literature are no exception. much-conquering country During the Middle Ages (c ), England was a much-conquered country; since the age of Queen Elizabeth I, England (later Britain) became a much-conquering country. The fact that we speak, write and study English in South Africa is evidence of the conquering ambitions of the British Empire in the nineteenth century.

global medium of communication Today, we may be tempted to think of English as a global medium of communication. Perhaps we think that because English is now so dominant, it has always been so and that second-language speakers always choose to learn English! In the eye of history, English is not the world’s oldest language.

“ENGLISH” today differs greatly from the Anglo- The Saxon dialect (c. AD.1000), when the poem The Wanderer oral Wanderer was created”. These oral poems were handed down over generations & then written down by unknown scribes: ‘Oft him anhagaāre gebīdeđ, Metudes míltseþeah þe hē mōdcearig geond lagulādelonge sceolde Hrēran mídí hondumhrímcealde sæ,’ ‘Often the solitary man enjoys The grace and mercy of the Lord, though he Careworn has long been forced to stir by hand The ice-cold sea on many waterways…’

By the late-1300s, English was less Germanic & more French, after the Norman Conquest (1066). General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales Take Geoffrey Chaucer’s General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales: “Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veine in swich licour Of which vertu engendred is the flour;” Here’s Neville Coghill’s modern translation: “When in April the sweet showers fall And pierce the drought of March to the root, and all The veins are bathed in liquor of such power As brings about the engendering of the flower,…”

Shakespeare Two hundred years later, during the last years of Queen Elizabeth I’s reign, Shakespeare wrote a form of English much more recognisably like our own: Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. 80 The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones; So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus Hath told you Caesar was ambitious: If it were so, it was a grievous fault, And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it. Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest-- For Brutus is an honorable man; So are they all, all honorable men-- Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar (1599)

in English Up to the late-1800s, most writers in English were born in England, Scotland, Wales or Ireland and lived there most of their lives:

In the 19th Century, writers living outside the British Isles brought their experience into the English language.

By the late 1900s and early 2000s, British society had changed dramatically. These writers are all British, writing in English:

19 th and 20 th -Century South African writers of all races and classes have used English expressive medium as an expressive medium.

Egypt: Egypt: Mahfouz NIGERIA: NIGERIA: Achebe, Soyinka, Okri GHANA: GHANA: Armah, Aidoo EmechetaKenya: Ngugi wa Thiong’o Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe: Doris Lessing, Tsitsi Dangarembga Botswana: Botswana: Bessie HeadMozambique: Mia Couto, Honwana

 Colonisationthe British Empire The Tempest  Colonisation & the expansion of the British Empire from 1600 led to the spread of writing in English. Even Shakespeare’s The Tempest (1611) reflects the voyages to the Americas.  Over time, writers in colonised societies have questioned Britain’s power over their destinies and start to ‘write back at the Empire’. This movement is ‘Post-colonialism’.  20 th -Century Globalisation  20 th -Century Globalisation has created worldwide access to English language (often American English) via the media & communication technology.  ENGLISH  ENGLISH is the vehicle for a great many attitudes to writing, art, literary taste, race, ethnicity, gender, class, culture & religion.