LITERATURE What is world literature?

 Literature is considered as writings having A. World literature in its expansive sense include
excellence of form or expression and any work that has ever reached beyond its home
expressing ideas of permanent or universal base. It is also argued that a work only has an
interest (Merriam Webster, 2020). effective life as world literature if it is within the
literary system beyond that of its original culture.
 It functions as a means to show feelings and
opinion about certain issue in the society. It B. The concept originated from Johann Wolfgang
talks about how people adapt and struggle von Goethe (1832), a German author who
against forces in society. formulated Weltliteratur which inaugurated
discussion of its concept.
 It also functions as an art of communication.
People who love writing use it as a tool to C. These literary works stem from widely disparate
artistically communicate and express societies with very different histories, forms of
themselves. cultural references, and poetics.
 Cańares (2002) states that literature is a C. As argued by scholars, these literary works
mirror of society , a catalyst of change and a across cultures do exhibit what Northrop Frye
transmitter of national values. She believes thought of as archetypes or what more recently
that literature plays vital role in teaching called “invariants” by French comparatist Etiemble.
values to the reader. She also credits Abad’s These archetypes or common literary patterns
view of literature’s role in one’s life, which provide the necessary basis for any truly global
is the most progressive among all the things understanding of literature.
that humanize because it cultivates the life
of feeling. D. The variability of work in world literature is one
of its constitutive features, one of its greatest
strengths when the work is well presented and read.
Damrosch, D. (2003)
“Introduction: Goethe coins a Phrase”
E. A culture’s norms and needs profoundly shape
the selection of works that enter into world
literature, influencing the ways they are translated,
Who is David Damrosch? marketed and read.
A. Chair of comparative literature at Harvard
University
Literary Genres:
B. PhD in comparative literature from Yale
A genre is a broad term that translates from the
C. Author of “The Buried Book: The Loss and French to mean 'kind' or 'type.’ In broad terms,
Recovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh, 2006” refers to any works that share certain characteristics.
D. Leading expert in the field “What is World • Drama is the genre of literature that is
Literature?” represented in dramatic way. This genre is
E. An editor-in chief of the multivolume Longman composed in verse or prose, usually for
Anthology of World Literature-most widely used theatrical performance, where conflicts and
anthology in the field. emotion are expressed through dialogue and
action.
• Fiction can be defined as narrative literary
works whose content is produced by the
imagination and is not necessarily based on
 fact. In it is feigned, invented, or imagined; about fairies or other magical creatures,
a made-up story. usually for children.
• Non-fiction- writing that is based on facts • Short Story is fiction of such briefness that
and real events. oration, history, diary or is not able to support any subplots. It can be
journal, travelogue, auto- or biography, letter read in one sitting.
or epistle, anecdote or character sketch.
• Folklore are songs, stories, myths, and
• Poetry -is verse and rhythmic writing with proverbs of a person of “folk” that was
imagery that evokes an emotional response handed down by word of mouth. Folklore is
from the reader. The art of poetry is a genre of literature that is widely held, but
rhythmical in composition, written or false and based on unsubstantiated beliefs.
spoken. This genre of literature is for
• Legend is a story that sometimes of a
exciting pleasure through beautiful,
national or folk hero. Legend is based on
imaginative, or elevated thoughts.
fact but also includes imaginative material.
• Short story- Fictional story that can be read
• Mythology is a type of legend or traditional
in one sitting.
narrative. This is often based in part on
• Narrative Nonfiction is information based historical events, that reveals human
on fact that is presented in a format which behavior and natural phenomena by its
tells a story. symbolism; often pertaining to the actions of
the gods. A body of myths, as that of a
• Essays are a short literary composition that
particular people or that relating to a
reflects the author’s outlook or point. A short
particular person.
literary composition on a particular theme or
subject, usually in prose and generally
analytic, speculative, or interpretative.
Literary Devices:
• A Biography is a written account of another
Figurative language uses figures of speech to be
person’s life.
more effective, persuasive, and impactful. Figures
• An Autobiography gives the history of a of speech such as metaphors, similes, and allusions
person’s life, written or told by that person. go beyond the literal meanings of the words to give
Often written in Narrative form of their readers new insights.
person’s life.
On the other hand, alliterations, imageries, or
• Speech is the faculty or power of speaking; onomatopoeias are figurative devices that appeal to
oral communication; ability to express one’s the senses of the readers.
thoughts and emotions by speech, sounds,
Simile – uses as or like in comparing one thing to
and gesture. Generally delivered in the form
another thing. Ex: She runs as fast as a deer.
of an address or discourse.
Metaphor- Direct comparison of two unlike things.
• A Fable is a story about supernatural or
Ex: He is a walking dictionary.
extraordinary people usually in the form of
narration that demonstrates a useful truth. In Irony - The use of words to express the opposite of
Fables, animals often speak as humans that the literal meaning. Ex: The water is so clean for no
are legendary and supernatural tales. creature lives there.
• Fairy Tales or wonder tales are a kind of Personification- Inanimate objects are given human
folktale or fable. Sometimes the stories are characteristics. Ex: The trees are dancing.
Hyperbole- Things are exaggerated. Ex: Her smile
is one mile wide.
Paradox – Statements that are contrary to one
another. Ex: They promised freedom but provided
slavery. The Individual and origins, myths, and death
Other literary devices: • How the idea of Hell has shaped the way we
think?
Symbolism- Representation of things.
• (Classical) Homer, Odysseus Passage into
Imagery- Words that appeal to the senses.
Hell
• (Canonical) Dante, Inferno
• (Post-colonial) Book of the Great Journey
(from the Mahabharata)
Odysseus
• After 10 years of fighting in the Trojan
war.
• Another 10 years of travelling back
home.
• After the war in Troy, Odysseus and his
Key Words: group go to Cicones, they get some
treasure, enslave women. Afterwards,
Context clues-are hints found within a sentence,
they go to the land of lotus-eaters.
paragraph, or passage that a reader can use to
understand the meanings of new or unfamiliar • Their next stop is the land of cyclops,
words. lead by Polyphemus, one-eyed giant.
Odysseus goes there and blinded him
Example: The place is enormous. It can
after being caught.
accommodate many people.
He abnegated his power since he is no longer • Their next destination is Aeolus’ place,
functional. master of the winds who gave him ox-
skin pouch with different winds that can
Intertextuality-the interrelationship between texts, help them go home. But the wind scapes,
especially works of literature; the way that similar without it, they were driven to
or related texts influence, reflect, or differ from Laestrygonians, place of cannibalistic
each other. giants.
Terza Rima - an arrangement of triplets, especially • After that, they wander to the Island of
in iambs, that rhyme aba bcb cdc, etc., as in Aeaea, place of the goddess Circe, who
Dante's Divine Comedy. advises them to go to the Land of the
Dead and talk to Teiresias, a blind seer.
Tercet- A tercet is a three-lined stanza or poem
that often contains a rhyme. There are many • At the land of the dead, Odysseus meets
different types of tercets. They can be easily read, Elpenor, Anticleia, Agamemnon,
and when they rhyme, they have a certain type of Teiresias and Achilles.
flow, like rolling waves.
Land of the Dead • Divided into two rings for hoarders and
lavishly spenders
It is a dark place where spirits dwell after they have
departed from their bodies. It is ruled by Hades, The • Use great weights as a weapon, being
god of the Dead. When people needed to talk to pushed through chest which symbolizes their
spirits, they needed to make a blood sacrifice. selfish drive.
Punishments: • Sinners: Pope and clergymen
1. Tityus, son of Gaia, has two voltures digging Fifth Circle (Anger)
their beaks into his liver because he violated
• Wrathful and sullen are punished by
Jove’s mistress, Leto.
fighting, scratching, biting each other
2. Dreadful fate of Tantalus, stood in a lake endlessly.
that reached his chin. However when he is
• Sinner: Filippo Argentini
thirsty, the water dries up. There are also
fruits which are tossed away by the wind Sixth Circle (Heresy)
whenever he tries to get when hungry.
• Adherence to opinion contrary to the church
3. Sisyphus who has endless task of rolling
stone to the top of the mountain. • Condemned to eternity in flaming tomb
• Epicurus, Greek Philosopher

Dante’s Inferno Seventh Circle (Violence)

First Circle (Limbo) • Divided in three rings:

• Place for unbaptized/ virtuous pagans 1. Murderer and Violent to others

• Struck with grief from lack of God’s -Alexander the Great

presence -Centaurus: Sank in river of boiling blood
• Sinners: Homer, Socrates, Aristotle, Julius 2. Suicides
Caesar and other poets.
- Turned into trees and bushes which are fed
Second Circle (Lust) upon
• Perverted obsession with flesh by harpies
• Blown by violent and endless wind - Profligates torn to pieces by dogs
• Sinners: Achilles, Paris, Cleopatra, etc. 3. Blasphemers and sodomites
Third Circle (Gluttony) -Resides in desert with burning sand and
• Greedy or excessive indulgence burning rain

• Bombarded with rain, hail and snow Eighth Circle (fraud)

• Souls are overlooked by the worm-monster • Divided into 10:

Cerberus 1. Panderer and seducers-they are whipped by
• Sinners are punished by being forced to lie devils.
in vile slush produced by icy rain 2. flatterers- they are immersed in the dung.
Fourth Circle (Greed)
 3. guilty of simony- they are stuck in a hole
▪ Plato believes poetic knowledge to be of
upside down, with the soles of their feet burning
with flames. appearances only because, were it otherwise,
the poet would dedicate himself to
4. sorcerers and false prophet- they walk with "realities" not "imitations," or images. The
their heads turned backward. poet knows no trade and produces nothing of
5. corrupt politicians- they are immersed in real, that is, necessary value (Cantallago,
boiling pitch. 2000).

6. hypocrites- they walk wearing heavy leaden ▪ “Plato's second objection is that the artist
robes, painted with gold knowingly manipulates the passions of his
7. thieves, evil counselors and advisers- they have audience. In a purely rational state, there is
their hands tied behind their backs by snakes and no room for the stirring up of "evil
suffer horrible metamorphosis. constitutions," nor the retelling of
misfortunes or misadventures in the past.
8. divisive individual- they roam the pit, wrapped What lies behind Plato's dislike of maudlin
in a flame. dramas or even great tragedy is his
9. perjurers, alchemists- they are mutilated by a conviction that the audience will identify
devil with a sword. with and in turn imitate whatever it sees.

10. counterfeits/falsifiers-forgers of metals are Aristotle’s Poetics

affected by scabies, those of people snapping
together, forgers of coins are tormented by thirst, ▪ Aristotle’s tenet differs from his mentor,
and those of words are suffering from high fever. Plato. Aristotle gives more weight to the
elements / characteristics of a literary work
Ninth Circle (Treachery)
rather to its moral function (Bressler, 1999).
• Residents are frozen in icy lake
▪ The Poetics, considers all art forms of
• Divided in four rings:
imitation or mimesis, or representation of the
1. Caina- After Cain killed his brother. real world in art and literature.
2. Antenora- Anthenor of Troy, counselor during
▪ He preaches that poetry is more universal
Trojan war.
and more general than things as they are.
3. Ptolomaea- Ptolomy, son of Abubus With the poet imitating the universal, his
4. Judecca- Judas Iscarriot, the Apostle who work achieves nearer to the ideal.
betrayed Jesus with a kiss. Tragedy

▪ It is an imitation of an action that is serious,

Plato’s View of Art
complete, and of a certain magnitude.
▪ In book X of The Republic, Plato unveils the
▪ The language is embellished with each kind
moralistic approach as he stresses the role of
of artistic ornament.
literature in the perfect Greek Republic. He
emphasizes that imitative art has no place in
▪ It is in the form of action and not narration.
his state for it corrupts the society.
 5. Melody- Refers to the language, rhythm and
▪ It arouses the reader’s feeling of fear, pity,
harmony.
and anger which are harmful emotions
released through drama, which is called 6. Spectacle- Overall visual appearance of the stage
Katharsis. and the actors.

Oedipus Rex
1. The king and queen of Thebes send their
baby away and to be killed because of the
prophecy.
2. The shepherd gave the baby to the king and
queen of Corinth.
3. Oedipus goes back to his home.
4. Oedipus fulfills the prophecy.

6 Part of Tragedy
1. Mythos/Plot: The combination of incidents and
actions in the story.
a. It includes Organic Unity: The incidents and
parts of a drama are interconnected with one
another.
b. Peripeteia: Refers to the reversal from one
state of affairs to its opposite. The hero who thought
he was in good shape suddenly finds that all is lost,
or vice versa.
c. Anagrosis/ recognition: It is a change from
ignorance to knowledge.
2. Character- Denotes the quality of an agent or
human beings represented in the drama, depicting
character’s action.
a. The hero goes from fortune to misfortune.
b. It involves hubris or overweening pride.
c. Hamartia- A tragic flaw that leads to the
character’s downfall.
3. Thought – Denotes the intellectual qualities of an
agent. The representation of the character’s
reasoning.
4. Diction- It refers to the language or the
composition of verses in drama.