How to Organize Your Articles for a Literature Review
For many folks, the give-and-take "literature" conjures up memories of high school English class reading lists. While the Western literary canon is expanding to include, and elevate, stories exterior of what white, Western readers have dubbed "the classics," there are still some works that crop upward in every pupil's career, from Frankenstein and the Epic of Gilgamesh to Beloved and The Swell Gatsby. So, why is literature important — and why do we report information technology?
Merriam-Webster defines literature as poetry or prose that has "excellence of form or expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest." While it may sound trite to say, the world'southward greatest works of literature take changed minds, sparked rebellions, and helped to alter the class of history. While it would exist incommunicable to contain all of literature's contributions and multitudes here, we're going to take a look at some of the landmark moments in this fine art class'south history.
Literature Transports Us To the Past
Like other recovered art objects, literature has the power to tell united states about ancient civilizations. Not only can nosotros sympathize their customs, values and lives, but we can get a better idea of what their entertainment looked similar. The first-known examples of literature tin exist traced dorsum to aboriginal Mesopotamia. Around 3400 BCE, the Sumerians developed a system of writing chosen cuneiform, which allowed scribes to tape myths, hymns and poetry. Some of these primeval-known transcriptions include the "Kesh Temple Hymn" and the "Instructions of Shuruppak," both of which were written effectually 2500 BCE.
The Epic of Gilgamesh, a long-form Mesopotamian poem, was originally written around 2100 BCE. Even today, Gilgamesh is considered the beginning great masterpiece of globe literature. In fact, much of the Bible parallels this ancient work, furthering emphasizing but how universal and influential Gilgamesh was — and continues to be today.
In 375 BCE, Plato, the Athenian philosopher, authored The Republic, a dialogue between Socrates and his boyfriend Greek thinkers, which explores idea-provoking questions about justice, order and the just man. And, around the 8th century BCE, the landmark epics attributed to the poet Homer, The Odyssey and The Iliad, helped preserve Greek mythology and history in writing.
Literature Helps Us Reevaluate Our Worlds
Early, literature was contained within poetry and dramatic works — after all, performing plays was another keen source of entertainment. During the 11th century, or the Heian menstruum, Japanese noblewoman and lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu penned The Tale of Genji, which is considered the kickoff modern novel by many scholars.
Years later, in Europe, things started to shift in a meaningful mode in the wake of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, a collection of 24 stories written in Middle English between 1387 and 1400. Picking up the prose torch effectually 1485, Thomas Malory published Le Morte d'Arthur, one of the first novels in the Western canon. During the Renaissance, writers like Molière began satirizing everything from the church and regime to gild at big, showing that written works had the propensity to shift the balance of power and make people rethink their world views.
During the 16th century, also known as the Ming dynasty, the Chinese novel Journey to the West was published. Attributed to Wu Cheng'en, this satire- and allegory-filled piece of work is considered one of the Iv Cracking Classical Novels of Chinese literature. Effectually the same time, William Shakespeare was helping to lay the foundations of mod English and craft the literary tropes and story formats nosotros still savour today. And, of course, in 1615 Miguel de Cervantes penned Don Quixote, a romantic, archetypal novel that'due south considered one of the most influential works of all time.
Literature Gives Folks a Vocalisation and Platform — and Let's Readers Run into Themselves Reflected
Once more, it's impossible to fully encapsulate the breadth of literary history hither. Moreover, this article focuses on written works, but it's important to note that many cultures and groups of people record stories through imagery instead — or pass their stories down in oral traditions. All of this to say, our view of literature is a narrow one, and, in many ways, limited by the way educational institutions take shaped our understanding of what works are important.
James Simpson, caput of Harvard University'due south English language Section, spoke about these limitations directly in an open up letter to the Wall Street Periodical entitled "Great Literature Magnifies Repressed Voices, Always." For Simpson, the ages-old Western literary canon, which highlights the literary contributions of white (and often straight) men, "betray[s] the fundamental function of literature and other art forms, which is to hear the voices repressed by official forms of a given culture."
Of class, the literary canon has been refreshed in by, which proves that it's important to reshape and rethink the stories nosotros deem essential. For instance, at the time of its writing Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter was kind of the scandalous (easily consumable) HBO-like story of the day. Merely, now, it'south largely considered a probing, essential work — non but entertainment. In the wake of Earth State of war I, authors like Virginia Woolf and F. Scott Fitzgerald penned novels, similar Mrs. Dalloway and The Slap-up Gatsby respectively, that captured their disillusionment starting time and foremost. However, these continue to be must-read works due to the way they exemplify arts and crafts and storytelling elements. (At least in part.)
More modern literature also ushered in the more formal notion of literary sub-genres, ranging from scientific discipline fiction — a genre created by Frankenstein author Mary Shelley — to romance, fantasy, and realism. By retracing certain tropes, conventions and character types, genre helps us empathise the style detail stories are shaped past categorizing them.
Without a doubt, literature helps u.s. uncover — be it an uncovering of the past, a present self, or a possible future. The most distinguished literary greats, similar Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Margaret Atwood, James Baldwin, Kazuo Ishiguro, Chinua Achebe, Jhumpa Lahiri, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Zadie Smith, and Maggie Nelson (and many, many more than folks we don't have the infinite to name!), capture all of these facets. In brusque, by climbing into the minds of other characters and worlds — in stepping outside of ourselves — literature allows us to sympathise universal truths; change minds; stir empathy; and express our identities and values in lasting, far-reaching ways.
whitforddights1963.blogspot.com
Source: https://www.reference.com/world-view/importance-literature-society-1a66a3cd21a90dd8?utm_content=params%3Ao%3D740005%26ad%3DdirN%26qo%3DserpIndex
0 Response to "How to Organize Your Articles for a Literature Review"
Post a Comment