The study in this part of the course focuses on the connections between and among diverse literary texts, traditions, creators and ideas. You will explore further aspects of meaning, literary form, approach and chronological development. This section focuses on the comparative study of literary texts to gain a deeper understanding of unique characteristics of individual texts and interesting connections between different texts.
Connections between literary texts can be established in a variety of ways, such as:
Consider the six guiding conceptual questions in this part of the course:
How do literary texts adhere to and deviate from conventions associated with literary forms?
How do conventions and systems of reference evolve over time?
In what ways can diverse literary texts share points of similarity?
How valid is the notion of a classic literary text?
How can literary texts offer multiple perspectives of a single issue, topic or theme?
In what ways can comparison and interpretation be transformative?
From working with various literary forms, you will become strong, close readers and interpreters of texts. That will also help you to develop skills in analyzing and criticizing literary texts and provide you with profound knowledge and appreciation of literature.
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Unpacking the six guiding questions How do literary texts adhere to and deviate from conventions associated with literary forms? Consider why a writer has chosen a particular literary form to communicate their message. For example, an author may choose a novel to portray how an individual grows up because this form may be more appropriate to show the development of the character and reflect the process of acquiring maturity. However, another author may deviate from these conventions and choose to write a novel that starts when the character is already grown up and the reader slowly discovers how the process of maturity took place. In a novel the expectation is that the information provided by the narrator is true, but there are texts where this is not the case and the narrator is unreliable. In such cases you must, as a reader, be tolerant of uncertainty. You must consider why the author has included an unreliable narrator to tell the story. How do conventions and systems of reference evolve over time? Think of ways that clothes, music, and art come into and out of fashion from one generation to another. The same thing happens with different literary forms as they shift and shape their form to suit the changing tastes of the time. For example, you could compare the ways that elegies were written 1,000 years ago and the ways they have been written since. You can use this comparison to understand how different literary forms have changed over time and consider how these evolutions reflect, for example, social change. To what extent do the literary texts in this course show an evolution of conventions over time in relation to other texts of the same literary form? In what ways can diverse literary texts share points of similarity? Texts from different times, places and literary forms can have a lot more in common than might be expected. Points of connection might include adherence to literary form conventions. More importantly, they might share perspectives on issues such as love, death, migration, and identity. For example, a 19th century Vietnamese poem expressing the author’s feelings through natural imagery, an English Modernist short story expressing a character’s thoughts through the medium of everyday objects, and an ancient Greek tragedy that uses evocative dialogue to provoke exaggerated emotions among the audience may nevertheless all achieve a common purpose to endorse or question patriotic ideals. Alternatively, two texts might share similar points of contact based on the use of literary techniques, for example, two different texts might both use symbolism as a driving force to create meaning. Try to think of similar points of connection among the diverse literary texts you are reading. How valid is the notion of a classic literary text? Over time, different literary traditions might develop a sense of what makes some texts stand out as having more status or value than others. This suggests an inquiry into what the term classic means and how far its definition may vary between cultures. There may be many reasons why a book is considered a classic, some of which might come from ideological and cultural factors. There are issues of power and privilege at play when certain groups or authors are included and excluded when determining which texts are deemed classic. What are the criteria for evaluating what makes a literary text classic and who decides these criteria in different world cultures? When reading a book, you need to explore these questions as well as find out how the book makes sense to you as a classic text. How do these considerations apply to the choices you made in your own booklist? How can literary texts offer multiple perspectives of a single issue, topic or theme? Literary texts will often explore larger ideas related to human experience. Have a look at your booklist. To what extent does it include a variety of perspectives on an issue arising from differences in age, gender, race and identity? Can different or even opposing perspectives on a single issue be equally valid? You should consider whether it is possible to gain a deep understanding of an issue without taking into account multiple perspectives. In what ways can comparison and interpretation be transformative? Reading and writing enables you to find connections between the world represented by the writer in a literary text and your own—which you may be able to understand better by interpreting what was written. When you compare and contrast texts, your interpretation can transform your understanding of them. Through interpreting and comparing literary texts, you are transforming the way you see the world. Transformation can be understood from four perspectives: 1. when a reader reads a text, and in the act of reading and interpreting, transforms it 2. when a writer reads a text, and being inspired by it, alludes to or even recreates it 3. when readers and writers transform texts, their view of the world and their place within it can change 4. when a text is read and re-read over time, the reader creates new meanings and as a reader, you are inevitably part of this process. |