theories of literature(1)

8/12/2019 Theories of Literature(1)

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Theories of Literature


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What Is Literature?

Reading, Assessing, Analyzing


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LiteratureWhat is Literature?

It is sometimes defined as anything written

However we can surely distinguish between literature in the sense

of any writing and literature in the sense of of verbal works of art

Robert Frost said, Literature is a performance in words

Another view holds that literature has in it, a sense of entertaining

display and provides pleasure in addition to the element of truth

involved


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What do we mean when we say

something is Literary?

Some texts are born literary, some

achieve literariness, and some haveliterariness thrust upon them.


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Loosely speaking there are 3 theories of

literature

The Imitative theory

The Expressive theory

The Affective theory


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The Imitative theoryAristotle Art is an imitation of something thing, person or event,

in our world

Recreation or representation in a form not natural to it

Imitative instinct innate in humans, coupled with rhythm, harmony

& pattern, it forms art

Art draws only on the perfect example and not the imperfect

aspects of nature Artist refines nature

Art is imaginative and interpretive, representation is as the artist

perceives it

Blind imitation? No, creativity is in artists outlook


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Art insight into reality?

Value of art begins to depend on its truth, but is this always

necessary?- Taj Mahal how can it tell the truth?

- Julius Caesar will we ever learn from it when we are

Roman tyrants ourselves?

Imititative theory cannot encompassall aspects of literature as an art

- Hitchhikers Guide reality???

Representative theory H2G2

represents a possibility of whatalien life and the future might be like.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/Deirdre64/RBBBoT.jpg&imgrefurl=http://bestavailable.blogspot.com/2006/06/adventures-in-visual-effects-no-35in.html&h=261&w=200&sz=82&hl=en&start=13&sig2=Us8-s86BfpoufP_tDlgocQ&um=1&tbnid=5ZMtwQiWRl6HmM:&tbnh=112&tbnw=86&ei=cTCTR4eCLYOUhAPv55nPBQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbugblatter%2Bbeast%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7GFRC


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Neo-representative theory conclusively encompasses most

forms of art and most genres of literature as well

Art is anything that is about something

Embraces even Duchamps Fountain represents a satirical

look at classical sculpture
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The Expressive theoryWordsworth:

"Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelingsthe

poetsjob is "to treat of things not as they are...but as they seem to

exist to the senses, and the passions.

Some aspects of the theory:

The artist does not imitate the external world, but expresses the

world within him.

"Truth" has nothing to do with literature.

The sincerity of the emotion being expressed is indicative of the

"trueness" of the work


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Discussion:

How can we say if an emotion is sincere or not?

-We just cannot!

What is the value of expressive writing?

-Proponents of the expressive theory say that upon reading how

another person feels, our own sensibilities are awakened.

-It is a way of expanding and enriching one's personality.
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Continuous as the stars that shineAnd twinkle on the milky way,They stretched in never-ending lineAlong the margin of a bay:Ten thousand saw I at a glance,Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.~Wordsworth Daffodils)


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An expressionist painting by Edvard

Munch : "The Scream"

Munch described his inspiration for the

image thus: "I was walking along a path

with two friendsthe sun was setting

suddenly the sky turned blood redI

paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned

on the fencethere was blood and

tongues of fire above the blue-black

fjord and the citymy friends walked

on, and I stood there trembling withanxietyand I sensed an infinite scream

passing through nature."


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This theory holds that a piece of art ought to arouse someemotion or at least affect the perceiver in some way

In Alexander Popes words, the artist

Gives my heart a thousand pains

Can make make me feel each passion that he feigns

Enrage,compose,with more than magic of art

With pity and with terror tear my heart

And snatch me oer the earth or through the airTo Thebes, to Athens, when he will, and where

The Affective theory


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These theories also hold that stimulation of certain emotions is

good

Most readers seek emotional stimulus from books and they want

to identify themselves with the central character

It also insists that the main aim is not to induce a temporary

emotional state, but to induce an emotional state that will lead to

some kind of action

Finally as Ezekiel Phalele says , the best poetry is one, that has a

memorable expression of revolutionary passion and ideas

The Affective theory contd.)


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Among the books that Gandhi read, the two that

affected him deeply were

The Bhagavad Gitaand

On the Duty of Civil Disobedience by Thoreau


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Back to the opening question : What is Literature?

Tentative Conclusions


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The simple truth is that there is no satisfactory answer !

But


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it is possible for us to say that works of art:

Give an insight into reality ( as the imitative theory

holds)

Broaden our awareness of possibilities of experience(

as the expressive theory holds )

They valuably affect our nervous system (as the

affective theory holds)

However, all of these theories need not hold for a piece

of art. They just contribute to a deeper and a more

conscious awareness of what is valuable in the works we

read.


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From the movie,Dead Poets Society:

We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write

poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race

is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are

noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance,

love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O

life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the

faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O

life?" Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the

powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful

play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?

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