Self-Taught Language A: Concepts

You may be familiar with more than one culture. You will certainly have a direct connection to at least one and relate to it closely. Literary texts are similarly linked to culture and this concept asks how this might affect the text and how far it can be seen as a product of that culture rather than as something that stands completely alone.  

Questions or tasks for reading log entries:  

• Some of the works you have read might be very difficult for someone to understand who is unfamiliar with the cultural context in which the work is set. Was this your experience with any of the works you have read for the course so far?  
• Can an author write successfully about a culture of which they are not a part? This question delves into the complex relationship between an author and the culture they write about. How is the cultural context of the work you are studying at the moment revealed?

Creativity describes the imaginative activity by which a writer processes ideas and experiences in the writing of a text. Just as important is the creativity needed by the reader to realize the potential meanings of the text.  

Questions or tasks for reading log entries:  

• Consider which of the works you have read so far has been particularly successful in drawing you into the world created by the writer. What do you think went into the creation of that world?  
• Think about another work you have read that was more open or ambiguous in connection with its meanings. How creative do you need to be as a reader to explore the possible different meanings of a work?  
• Try to find many possible interpretations of the work you are reading or of one of its elements.  
• Write an alternative ending or part of the book you are reading that changes its interpretation, but that tries to replicate the author’s style.  

This concept asks whether literary texts aim primarily to communicate an idea or teach something to the reader, or whether they are opportunities for self-expression or entertainment. 

Questions or tasks for reading log entries:  

• Think about a work that has been very difficult for you to understand and required you to do some research before you could fully comprehend it. You could also think about works that were easily understood at first reading but then revealed other meanings. What caused one to be more easily understood than the other?  
• What is the main aim of the work that you are studying? How do you know this?  
• How accessible is this work to you as a reader? What might prevent a reader from understanding this work?  

Each literary text usually contains different characters with different traits. When you study these characters you may find that implicit behind them are the views or thoughts of the author. In other words, these characters may represent some aspect of the identity of the author. At the same time, characters can also be a mirror that helps you to recognize yourself. Studying literary characters may also result, therefore, in an exploration of your own identity.  

Questions or tasks for reading log entries:  

• Consider a character from those in the works you have studied that you really admire. How far do you think it was the intention of the work to elicit this response in you?  
• List the personality traits of any one character: label the ones that you think represent some aspect of the author’s identity and the ones that you find similar to your own.  

The concept of perspective revolves around both the way that readers may understand a text in different ways and also the way that text presents a particular viewpoint.  

Questions or tasks for reading log entries:  

• Consider to what extent you have identified with or felt challenged by perspectives offered in the works you have read.  
• Explore how a work has confirmed or deepened your views on a particular issue.  
• How successfully has the work you are reading right now presented a particular point of view?  

This concept asks us to consider how far the world of a text corresponds to the real world. Some writers may aim to represent the outside world as faithfully as possible. Some others may instead choose to create more abstract literary texts.  

If you think about painting, this difference might become clear if you contrast the portraits of Leonardo da Vinci with those of Picasso. Similarly, among the texts you have read, there might be some that offered a very realistic portrait of the world they represented, while others might give us a portrait of life and the world that is fragmented, distorted, or idealized.  

Questions or tasks for reading log entries:  

• How similar is the world in the work you are reading to the real world? How recognizable are the characters and their attitudes?  
• In what ways does the use of language in the works you have read represent in itself a view of the world?

This concept is about the act of reading a text and the nature of the change that reading brings about. Studying a text is a complex process where as we read and think about the text, the text for us changes and we as a reader change because of what we have read. At the same time, as we read more texts and make connections between them, another transformation occurs in how we regard the texts.

Questions or tasks for reading log entries:

• From your own reading, think about a work that has impacted your thinking about writing, a topic or issue, or reading. What was it about the work that transformed your thinking?
• Write about a work that is changing your thinking. What is being transformed: your views on reading, on writing or on an issue?
• Compare two works that you have read in the course. How does comparing them change how you understand each work? How do the works seem different after this comparison?