Fundamental Framework For Reading English Literature unit 1, Bridge Course, 1st year 1st Semester, B.A English Literature, University of Madras

 UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS

B.A. ENGLISH LITERATURE

1^st Year 1^st Semester

BRIDGE COURSE : FUNDAMENTAL FRAMEWORK FOR READING ENGLISH LITERATURE 

UNITS - I : Literature and Humanities – Understanding Literature and its relevance    to life, Intersections with other disciplines

UNITS - II : Empathy and Ethics, Diversity, and Inclusivity – Writings across genres,

            gender, culture, community, boundaries and binaries.

UNITS – III : The Way with Words – Mastering Literary vocabulary – choosing the      right words to convey ideas effectively, What to Read and How to Write.

UNITS - IV : Basic Structure of a Genre – Reading and appreciation of a poem, a            play, a short story, an essay

UNITS - V : The Notables – Nobel Laureates, Award winning Writers – An overview    from classical to contemporary literary icons.

  

UNITS - I : Literature and Humanities –

 

Understanding Literature

Literature is the foundation of life. It means an expression of individual and social life and thought through language. The connection between literature and life is both important and vital. It is a journey that is inscribed in pages and powered by the imagination of the reader. Its subject-matter and treatment are of general human interest; the expression is always emotive as the thought gives aesthetic pleasure and satisfaction. It is a mirror that humans hold up to the world, to themselves and to history.

 Literature has a universal appeal. It does not like to deal with any particular society but with society as a whole. Ultimately, literature has provided a gateway to teach the reader about life experiences from even the saddest stories to the most joyful ones that will touch their hearts. Literature must have social functions. It can show us who we have been, who we are, and who we may become.

Modern writers have developed a flair for expressions, feelings, and situations that are subtle and complex in languages. English writers Wordsworth, realized this and heightened speech of the trustees. Modern literature gives readers a view of present-day politics and sometimes gives us an important view into the lives of the people around us. The more literature is free from its class limitations and becomes the vehicles of the thoughts and feelings of the common men, the working people, the more will attend to become popular and public. So literature is an art that engages us in some of the best aspects of being human.

Literature is important because it teaches you what life is all about, how it had been in earlier times. It should not be confounded with sociology, philosophy, psychology, religion, etc. though these give substance and depth to literature. It may or may not impart knowledge, religious or moral instructions in a direct way. Its theme may be of a social problem or political revolution or religious movement; but it may, with equal justification, be an individual’s passion, problem or fantasy. But the object is not so much to teach as to delight.

Books are regarded as literature and bring us into some relation with real life. It broadens one’s mind, gives the ability to think from all the perspectives, the analytical skills are enhanced. Once the deepest things in life are these that deal with what was called the eternal varieties of life. The ideas of certain moral virtues were supposed to be eternal. But experience and a wider knowledge of the changing conditions of social life have shaken man’s faith in the unchangeableness of such concepts. The function of literature in human society is similar to the role of sweet music in your ears.

 

Literature and its relevance to life

Literature is important in everyday life because it connects individuals with larger truths and ideas in a society. Literature mainly centers around man’s life. These two things literature and life are closely related to each other. Furthermore, they can make connections between the characters and the themes of a book, and how that could apply to real life. No literature can be regarded as literature in the truest sense if it deals with a particular class having no mass appeal.

Literature enables people to see through the eyes of others, therefore, it becomes a looking glass into the world from someone else’s perspective. It is a journey that is inscribed in pages and empowered by the imagination of the reader. Ultimately, literature has provided a gateway to teach the reader about life’s experiences that stem from both, the saddest as well as the most joyful of stories that touch the heart. Reading and being given the keys to the world of literature prepares an individual from an early age to discover the true meaning of life, to be able to see and understand situations from various perspectives.

Literature is the closest thing the world has, which enables man to understand another person whole-heartedly. For instance, a novel about a terrible war written from the perspective of a soldier, allows the reader to imagine their pain without actually becoming that person. Thus, literature can act as a time machine, allowing individuals to go into a specific time period, as mentioned in the story. One then finds oneself into the mind and soul of the writer. Such is the beauty of literature and its importance in our life.

Various attempts have been made to define literature. It is for example, as ‘imaginative’, writing in the sense of fiction-writing which is not literally true. 16thand 17thcentury English literature includes Shakespeare, Webster, Marvell and Milton-but it also stretches to the essays of Francis Bacon, the sermons of John Donne, Bunyan’s spiritual autobiography and whatever it was that Sir Thomas Browne wrote. In other words literature teaches us- how to live?

Literature broadens our mind. We start thinking more and more about natural phenomenon. It expands our knowledge and understanding of the world we live in. literature is the main source for the new generations to know the history of their place and parts of the world. It grips us with its stories, its characters in conflict. It also appeals to the imagination. Emily Dickenson in a poem says:

There is no Frigale like a Book

To take us Lands away

Nor any coursers like a Page

Of Prancing Poetry –

This traverse may the poorest take

Without oppress of Toll –

How frugal is the Chariot

That bears the Human Soul

Literature creates hope in our heart when we are depressed or sad. Emily Dickenson asserts:

Hope is a thing with feathers

That perches in the soul-

And sings the tune without the words

And never stops at all

 In eighteenth century England, the concept of literature was not confined as it sometimes it is today to ‘creative or imaginative’ writing. It meant the whole body of valued writing in society such as philosophy, history, essays and letters as well as poems. What made a text ‘literary’ was not whether it was fictional. The 18th century was in grave doubt about whether the new form of the novel was literature at all-but whether it confirmed to certain standard of ‘polite letters’. The criteria of what counted as literature, in other words, were frankly ideological.

In the late 16th and early 17th century, the word ‘novel’ seems to have been used about both true and fictional events, and even news reports were hardly to be considered factual. Moreover, if ‘literature’ includes much ‘factual’ writing, it also excludes quite a lot of fiction. Superman comic and Mills and Boon novels are fictional but not generally regarded as literature, and certainly not as literature, if literature is creative or, imaginative writing, does this imply that history, philosophy and natural science are uncreative and imaginative?

Literature was in a sense an organic society all of its own: it was important because it was nothing less than a whole social ideology. The impact of literature on modern society is immense. Literature acts as a form of expression for each individual author. Literature is the mirror of society and it allows us to better understand the world we live in.

 Literature is a reflection of humanity and a way for us to understand one another. Literature is important because of its purpose and in a society, which is being detached from human interaction, novels create a conversation. Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park subtly dissects an education that confused self-assertion with moral and spiritual insight. Dickens’ Hard Times shows how dangerous it is to rely on a utilitarian vies of human beings in the classroom while hardy’ Jude The Obscure reveals the loss felt by a man who is excluded from an elite university because of his class and poverty.

 A vision of man-God relationship forms the core of all arts and more particularly of literary art. Religious sensibility is stirred when the focus of vision of an artist lies on man and society. The attainment of a Guru is close to the attainment of God. Raja Rao’s Serpent and the Rope as the title suggests is highly philosophical.

 Literature is not a luxury but a life-changer. Reading literature gives one a better understanding of human nature and the complexity of the human condition. It makes one less judgemental and more sympathetic. Literature can also be more insightful than non-fiction. For example, Arvind Adiga’s novel The White Tiger gives information about the dark side of contemporary India. Literature teaches us humanity-to be sensitive and empathetic towards others. It also provides us an outlet for our thoughts emotions and imagination. Above all, literature teaches us language and the power of communication, a skill we cannot do in the 21th century.

Literature has a major impact on the development of society. It has shaped civilisation, changed political system and exposed injustice. It gives us a detailed previewof human experience, allowing us to connect on basis levels of desire and emotion. Literature helps build crucial, critical thinking skills. It helps us to develop the ability to find the hidden meaning within everyday life.

Literature is a form of human experience. Although in some literature the language employed is quite different from that spoken or used in ordinary writing. In Defence of Poetry, P.B. Shelley wrote:

A man who is greatly good, must imagine intensely and comprehensively; he must put himself in place of another and of many others; the pains and pleasures of many species must become of his own.

The great instrument of moral good is the imagination. So in words of Tolstoy, without literature men would be like wild beasts because it endows an understanding. Literature unites mankind. It has just made a better person, more humble, sensible, considerate towards others. Literature is like a ray of hope for me at present time. It is an escape from the negativity of life.

 

Intersections with other disciplines

Literature is the foundation of humanity’s cultures, beliefs, and traditions. It serves as a reflection of reality, a product of art, and a window to an ideology. Everything that happens within a society can be written, recorded in, and learned from a piece of literature. Whether it be poetry or prose, literature provides insight, knowledge or wisdom, and emotion towards the person who partakes it entirely.

Literature in History

            Literature is present during the era of the ancient world. Even without the invention of words and language, literature was already manifested in the earliest human civilizations. Carvings and paintings on walls inside caves of stone give evidence about the lives of prehistoric people. They explain their way of life.

     Literature is also a tool for the foundation of a religion. The Holy Bible, one of the oldest written scriptures, is a compilation of tales, beliefs, and accounts that teach about Christianity (for both the Old and the New Testament) and about Judaism (for some selected books in the Old Testament). Within a span of more than a thousand years from the Prophet Moses to the Apostle Paul, the Bible was written by numerous authors believed to be inspired by God’s divine wisdom and tries to explain about the mysteries of life as well as setting rules for one’s personal faith. The same goes with the Qu’ran for Muslims, Torah for the Jews, and the Bhagavad-Gita, Ramayana and Veda for the Hindus.

Literature in Revolution

    Literature is an instrument of revolution. Political turmoil, societal injustice, and genocidal conquest can all be ended and resolved in the form of literature. A writer can be a warrior with his words as his weapon. He can be a revolutionist by writing a literary piece that exploits corruption in his nation yet fosters development for his fellow countrymen.

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