Understanding Literature

Motivations: Two of the most commonly asked questions about literature is why people write literature and why people read and study literature. One of the most enduring answers to these questions that has stood the test of time is that people write literature to express some vision about or make some sort of commentary on the human condition and that people read and study literature to understand more about the human condition—essentially, what it means to be a human being.

Seeking Meaning in the Work With this in mind, it should come as no surprise that reading and studying a work of literature involves trying to find meaning.

Tools When we try to find meaning in a work of literature, we apply what are metaphorically called tools to the task. These range from the rudimentary to the sophisticated. When we study literature, though, we try to move beyond the rudimentary and use some well-established tools to find meaning. These include categorizing the work into a Genre, looking at Literary Elements in the work, and even applying established schools of thought that are forms of Literary Criticism.

Genre One of the most common ways of approaching a work of literature is looking at its genre or the type of imaginative work it is. The traditional genres that we are familiar with include Fiction (short story, novel, and novela), Poetry, and Drama. People trying to find meaning in works with this tool interpret the work in light of the expectations and conventions of the genre. However, note that across cultures the conventions of a genre can vary greatly. Some cultures may even have entirely different genres from what other cultures understand as a genre.

Literary Elements Identifying well-understood literary elements is another way we try to find meaning in a text. Some of these elements (which we will look at as we explore the works in this course) include Character Setting Plot Point of View Tone Symbol Theme

Theme To take just one example from the list, Theme is the central or dominating idea in the work. However, complex works often have more than one theme or dominant idea. Note also that the writer often does not explicitly name the theme of the work and the reader must infer the theme based on clues in the text. Take a moment to bring to mind a work that you’ve read or seen. What do you believe the theme or one of the themes of the work was? Why do you believe that that theme was in fact a theme in the work?

Conventional Theme To further understand the meaning of a work, people often examine it in light of what are called Conventional Themes or themes that occur so regularly in imaginative works that they have become conventions. Some of these themes include: Loss of innocence The individual vs. society The quest for spiritual enlightenment The evils of unchecked ambition The pain of love The struggle for equality Civilization vs. the wilderness The conflict between the ideal and the actual

Conventional Theme Again, think of imaginative works that you are familiar with. Can you think of any that have conventional themes? If so, list the work and the theme and explain why you think that work contains that conventional theme.

Literary Criticism Yet another way of trying to find meaning in a work is through reading literary criticism and applying the ideas of critical schools of thought. Some of these schools of thought include Historical/Biographical criticism Moral/Philosophical criticism Psychoanalytic criticism Mythological/Archetypal criticism Feminist criticism Formalist criticism We will explore some of these as we read the works and even attempt to use them as we write our own criticism (meaning our essays).

The Canon One other thing to consider when studying literature is what is called the Canon. Essentially, the canon is a group of works that those who study and interpret literature deem worthwhile to formally study in courses and examine in works of criticism. The canon has changed over time. This is due to a number of factors, but one of them is that it excluded worthwhile works from minorities, women, and people from other cultures. What works are included in the canon today is very much debated.

Evaluation of Literature In light of the changing shape of the canon, people who study literature also evaluate works, meaning they make judgments about how worthwhile the work is. This is a hotly debated issue, but some of the things that people who evaluate literature consider include: How various literary elements function in the work Whether these elements function together to achieve a goal that the work appears to attempt to achieve Whether the work simply reinforces our preconceived ideas about the world or challenges them in some way Whether the work is intellectually challenging.

Evaluation of Literature Again, think of works that you are familiar with both from school and popular culture. Are there any that you would consider worthy of scholarly study and any that you would consider unworthy of scholarly study? What are these works and why do you think that?

A Work to Consider: Look at the short story “All about Suicide” on Page 6 of your text. Form groups of about 3-4 people and try to answer the following questions that will help you probe for meaning in this work: What do you think the main theme is in this work? Why? Does this work make some commentary on the human condition? If so, what is it and why do you believe that? Would you consider this a work worthy of formal study (a work worthy of being a part of the canon)? Why or Why not? Try to use some of the tools that have been provided to help you answer these questions.

Another Work to Consider Look at the poem “Telephone Conversation” on page 6 of your text and consider the same questions.