What Is the Difference Between an Introduction and a Literature Review
For many folks, the word "literature" conjures up memories of high school English language class reading lists. While the Western literary canon is expanding to include, and elevate, stories outside of what white, Western readers have dubbed "the classics," there are still some works that crop up in every student's career, from Frankenstein and the Ballsy of Gilgamesh to Beloved and The Great Gatsby. So, why is literature important — and why do we study it?
Merriam-Webster defines literature equally poetry or prose that has "excellence of course or expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal involvement." While information technology may audio trite to say, the world's greatest works of literature have changed minds, sparked rebellions, and helped to modify the class of history. While it would be impossible to comprise all of literature'south contributions and multitudes here, nosotros're going to accept a look at some of the landmark moments in this art class'south history.
Literature Transports Us To the Past
Like other recovered art objects, literature has the power to tell u.s.a. about aboriginal civilizations. Not only tin we empathise their customs, values and lives, merely we tin can become a better idea of what their amusement looked like. The showtime-known examples of literature tin can exist traced back to ancient Mesopotamia. Around 3400 BCE, the Sumerians developed a organization of writing called cuneiform, which allowed scribes to tape myths, hymns and poetry. Some of these earliest-known transcriptions include the "Kesh Temple Hymn" and the "Instructions of Shuruppak," both of which were written around 2500 BCE.
The Epic of Gilgamesh, a long-grade Mesopotamian poem, was originally written effectually 2100 BCE. Even today, Gilgamesh is considered the first great masterpiece of globe literature. In fact, much of the Bible parallels this ancient piece of work, furthering emphasizing just how universal and influential Gilgamesh was — and continues to be today.
In 375 BCE, Plato, the Athenian philosopher, authored The Republic, a dialogue betwixt Socrates and his fellow Greek thinkers, which explores idea-provoking questions about justice, social club and the just human. 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 U.s.a. Reevaluate Our Worlds
Early on, literature was independent within poesy and dramatic works — after all, performing plays was some other great source of entertainment. During the 11th century, or the Heian period, Japanese noblewoman and lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu penned The Tale of Genji, which is considered the outset modern novel by many scholars.
Years later, in Europe, things started to shift in a meaningful way 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 around 1485, Thomas Malory published Le Morte d'Arthur, 1 of the first novels in the Western canon. During the Renaissance, writers similar Molière began satirizing everything from the church and government to social club at large, showing that written works had the propensity to shift the balance of power and brand people rethink their globe views.
During the 16th century, also known as the Ming dynasty, the Chinese novel Journey to the Westward was published. Attributed to Wu Cheng'en, this satire- and allegory-filled piece of work is considered one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. Around the aforementioned time, William Shakespeare was helping to lay the foundations of modern English and arts and crafts the literary tropes and story formats we still enjoy today. And, of course, in 1615 Miguel de Cervantes penned Don Quixote, a romantic, archetypal novel that's considered i of the most influential works of all time.
Literature Gives Folks a Vocalization and Platform — and Let's Readers Run into Themselves Reflected
Again, it'southward impossible to fully encapsulate the breadth of literary history here. Moreover, this commodity 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 downwardly in oral traditions. All of this to say, our view of literature is a narrow 1, and, in many ways, limited by the fashion educational institutions have shaped our understanding of what works are important.
James Simpson, head of Harvard University's English language Section, spoke about these limitations directly in an open letter to the Wall Street Journal entitled "Great Literature Magnifies Repressed Voices, Always." For Simpson, the ages-former Western literary canon, which highlights the literary contributions of white (and often direct) men, "beguile[due south] the fundamental function of literature and other art forms, which is to hear the voices repressed by official forms of a given culture."
Of course, the literary canon has been refreshed in past, which proves that it'southward important to reshape and rethink the stories we deem essential. For instance, at the time of its writing Nathaniel Hawthorne'due south The Scarlet Letter was kind of the scandalous (easily consumable) HBO-like story of the day. But, now, it'due south largely considered a probing, essential work — not just entertainment. In the wake of World State of war I, authors like Virginia Woolf and F. Scott Fitzgerald penned novels, like Mrs. Dalloway and The Corking Gatsby respectively, that captured their disillusionment offset and foremost. However, these continue to exist must-read works due to the manner they exemplify craft and storytelling elements. (At to the lowest degree in part.)
More modern literature also ushered in the more than formal notion of literary sub-genres, ranging from science fiction — a genre created past Frankenstein author Mary Shelley — to romance, fantasy, and realism. By retracing certain tropes, conventions and character types, genre helps us understand the manner particular stories are shaped by categorizing them.
Without a doubtfulness, literature helps us uncover — be it an uncovering of the past, a nowadays self, or a possible future. The most distinguished literary greats, like 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 folks we don't have the space to proper name!), capture all of these facets. In short, by climbing into the minds of other characters and worlds — in stepping exterior of ourselves — literature allows us to empathise universal truths; change minds; stir empathy; and limited our identities and values in lasting, far-reaching ways.
Source: https://www.reference.com/world-view/importance-literature-society-1a66a3cd21a90dd8?utm_content=params%3Ao%3D740005%26ad%3DdirN%26qo%3DserpIndex
0 Response to "What Is the Difference Between an Introduction and a Literature Review"
Post a Comment