Introduction to Literature

Philippine literature
The rich and colorful Philippine literary pieces are at par with other countries in breadth and depth.

Welcome my dear Literature enthusiasts! This is our first lesson in your literature course. I enjoin you to make use of this web site as an extension of our four-walled classroom and very limited class contact hours. Although I take a considerable effort in maximizing this web page, still, I require you to attend personally our classes regularly. No amount of web presence can substitute our genuine class interaction. Besides, it is required that you complete our required number of contact hours. This i just an extension of our normal yet limited class contact hours. It is never my intention to forego nor miss our classes that’s why I set this website up.

Intended learning outcomes (ILOs)

By the end of this lesson, you are expected to:

  1. Define literature.
  2. Explain the characteristics of a good literature using the literary standards.
  3. Identify the literary approaches which can be utilized to study various literary pieces.
  4. Appreciate the importance of literature.

Introduction to Literature

The term literature came from the Latin literatura which means, “writing formed with letters” in English. This term is further derived from litera which means “letter” in English.  Hence the main root word origin of this term is or litera. (Root word origin is derived from www.etymonline.com.)

“Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree.” [Ezra Pound, “ABC of Reading”]

There has been a lot of definitions attached to the term literature. Some of them include:

Literature is a product of particular culture that concretizes man’s array of values, emotions, actions and ideas.

It is therefore a creation of human experiences that tells about people and their world.

Literature is an art that reflects the works of imagination, aesthetics and creative writing which are distinguished for the beauty of style or expression.

“Literature raises life to a new level of meaning and understanding, and in the process restores sanity and justice in an insane and unjust world.” – Cirilo F. Bautista

In the course of our study, we will define literature as a term which refers to the totality of oral and written accounts of man reflecting his ideas and views of life transferred to generations. From this, we can assume that “Literature is the reflection of life.”  Therefore, following this line of thought, we can safely conclude that Literature is life.”

Literary standards

We refer the term literary standards to a set of yardsticks or set of criteria used to evaluate a certain literary work whether or not it is or it can be classified as “magnum opus” or “obra maestra” or being dubbed as literary masterpiece.

The seven literary standards are:

  1. Universality – Literature appeals to everyone, regardless of culture, race, gender, and time.
  2. Artistry – Literature has an aesthetic appeal and thus possess a sense of beauty.
  3. Intellectual Value – Literature stimulates critical thinking that enriches mental processes of abstraction and reasoning, making man realize the fundamental truths of life and its nature.
  4. Suggestiveness – Literature unravels and conjures man’s emotional power to define symbolism, nuances, implied meanings, images, and messages, giving and evoking visions above and beyond the plane of ordinary life and experience.
  5. Spiritual Value – Literature elevates the spirit and the soul and thus has the power to motivate and inspire, drawn from the suggested morals or lessons of the different literary genres.
  6. Permanence – Literature endures across time and draws out the time factor: timeliness (occuring at a particular time) and timelessness (remaining invariable throughout time).
  7. Style – Literature presents peculiar way/s on how man sees life as evidenced by the formation of his ideas, forms, structures, and expressions which are marked by their memorable substance.

Literary approaches

When we read a literary piece, some of the more striking elements featured stand out above the rest. The tendency is, these linger in our minds a bit longer compared to others. In studying a literary piece, the same situation occurs in which we tend to question things over other supposed to be in the same light against the other. That is where literary approach come in. We use these approaches similar to a lens in order to view a particular insight we want to fully explore.

The more common literary approaches being used include:

  1. Formalist or Literary Approach. Literature is viewed intrinsically, independent of the author, age, or any other extrinsic factor. The study of the selection is more or less based on the so-called “literary elements.”
  2. Moral or Humanistic Approach. Literature is viewed to discuss man and its nature. It presents man as essentially rational; that is, endowed with intellect and free will; or that the piece does not misinterpret the true nature of man.The approach is close to the “morality” of literature, to questions of ethical goodness or badness.
  3. Historical Approach. Literature is seen both as a reflection and product of the times and circumstances in which it was written. It operates on the premise that the history of a nation has telling effects on its literature and that the piece can be better understood and appreciated if one knows the times surrounding its creation.
  4. Sociological Approach. Literature is viewed as the expression of man within a given social situation or social event or social phenomena. The sociological approach stresses on social “relevance”, social “commitment,” contemporaneity, and it deems communication with the reader important.
  5. Cultural Approach. Literature is seen as one of the manifestations and vehicles of a nation’s or race’s culture and tradition. It includes the entire compels of what goes under “culture” – the technological, artistic, sociological, ideological aspects; and considers the literary piece in the total cultural milieu in which it was born.
  6. Psychological Approach. Literature is viewed as the expression of “personality,” of “inner drives” or “neurosis”. It includes the psychology of the author, of the characters, and even the psychology of creation. It has resulted in an almost exhausting and exhaustive “psychological analysis” of characters, of symbols and images, of recurrent themes, and others.
  7. Biographical Approach. Literature is viewed from the life story of the author or any of the characters presented in the story. Since literature is all about reflection of life, any literary piece, henceforth can be examined using biographical approach.
  8. Marxist Approach. For Karl Marx, a German-Jewish social philosopher, literature is viewed as a conflict of social classes: The Ruling Class (Bourgeoisie) vs. The Working Class (Proletariat). Stories highlighting social conflict, class struggles and ideologies not compatible to each other are basically examples of this approach.
  9. Feminist Approach. This approach speaks of highlighting the role of women depicted in the story. Struggles, plight and conditions of female characters or heroine are being scrutinized.
  10. Deconstructionist Approach. Popularized by Jacques Derrida, this approach speaks of examining closely the individual elements comprising the story and then studying how these parts complement and work together to come up with the whole masterpiece.

Importance of Literature

As any field of academic discipline, the study of literature proves to be a useful endeavor. It has its own unique way of expressing its benefits and advantages. Students of literature will realize these things during or after reading or studying a literary masterpiece. The importance of literature include:

  1. Literature helps us grow both personally and intellectually.
  2. Literature links us with the rest of the world of which we are apart.
  3. Literature enables us to transcend our immediate time, place, and culture and to make connections with other human beings and their concerns.
  4. Literature encourages us to develop mature empathy with all forms of life: human, animal, plant.
  5. Literature sharpens our sense of moral judgment.
  6. Literature stimulates our imagination and ingenuity.
  7. Literature shows the significance of irony, paradox, oxymoron and ambivalence of life.
  8. Literature allows us to see the world in different vantage points.
  9. Literature relives history.
  10. Literature reminds us that we are human beings.

References

The references listed here and in the course syllabus are available in the TIP Quezon City library. However, you may still consult other references and materials pertinent to your quest of study. You have a rich compendium of resources both online and offline waiting for you to tap in the Library. Here are some of the references:

  • Soriano-Baldonado, Rizza. (2013). Readings from World Literatures: Understanding People’s Culture, Traditions and Beliefs:  A Task-Based Approach.  Quezon City: Great Books Publishing.
  • Vinuya, Remedios V. (2012). Philippine Literature:  A Statement of Ourselves. Metro Manila: Grandbooks Publishing, Inc.

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