Read Write Think Definition Study Teacher Guide
For many folks, the word "literature" conjures upward memories of high school English 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 ingather upwards in every pupil'southward career, from Frankenstein and the Epic of Gilgamesh to Beloved and The Nifty Gatsby. So, why is literature important — and why do nosotros study it?
Merriam-Webster defines literature as poetry or prose that has "excellence of form or expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest." While it may sound trite to say, the earth's greatest works of literature have changed minds, sparked rebellions, and helped to modify the course of history. While it would be impossible to incorporate all of literature'south contributions and multitudes here, we're going to take a look at some of the landmark moments in this art form's history.
Literature Transports The states To the By
Like other recovered art objects, literature has the power to tell us well-nigh ancient civilizations. Non but tin we understand their customs, values and lives, merely nosotros can get a better idea of what their entertainment looked like. The first-known examples of literature can be traced back to aboriginal Mesopotamia. Around 3400 BCE, the Sumerians developed a system of writing chosen cuneiform, which immune scribes to record 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-class Mesopotamian verse form, was originally written around 2100 BCE. Even today, Gilgamesh is considered the offset great masterpiece of earth literature. In fact, much of the Bible parallels this aboriginal 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 between Socrates and his fellow Greek thinkers, which explores thought-provoking questions about justice, order and the only human. And, around the eighth century BCE, the landmark epics attributed to the poet Homer, The Odyssey and The Iliad, helped preserve Greek mythology and history in writing.
Early on, literature was independent within verse and dramatic works — after all, performing plays was another 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 offset modern novel by many scholars.
Years later, in Europe, things started to shift in a meaningful way in the wake of Geoffrey Chaucer'due south The Canterbury Tales, a collection of 24 stories written in Middle English betwixt 1387 and 1400. Picking up the prose torch around 1485, Thomas Malory published Le Morte d'Arthur, one of the offset novels in the Western canon. During the Renaissance, writers like Molière began satirizing everything from the church and government to order at large, showing that written works had the propensity to shift the balance of power and brand people rethink their earth views.
During the 16th century, besides known as the Ming dynasty, the Chinese novel Journey to the West was published. Attributed to Wu Cheng'en, this satire- and allegory-filled work is considered ane of the 4 Bang-up Classical Novels of Chinese literature. Around the same fourth dimension, William Shakespeare was helping to lay the foundations of modern English language and craft the literary tropes and story formats we however enjoy today. And, of course, in 1615 Miguel de Cervantes penned Don Quixote, a romantic, archetypal novel that's considered one of the most influential works of all time.
Literature Gives Folks a Vocalisation and Platform — and Let's Readers Encounter Themselves Reflected
Once again, it'south impossible to fully encapsulate the latitude of literary history here. Moreover, this article focuses on written works, only it'due south important to annotation 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 one, and, in many means, limited by the fashion educational institutions have shaped our understanding of what works are important.
James Simpson, head of Harvard Academy's English Department, spoke about these limitations straight in an open alphabetic character to the Wall Street Journal entitled "Bang-up Literature Magnifies Repressed Voices, Ever." For Simpson, the ages-old Western literary canon, which highlights the literary contributions of white (and oftentimes directly) men, "beguile[due south] the primal part of literature and other art forms, which is to hear the voices repressed by official forms of a given culture."
Of grade, the literary catechism has been refreshed in past, which proves that it's important to reshape and rethink the stories we deem essential. For example, at the fourth dimension of its writing Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Cherry Letter was kind of the scandalous (easily consumable) HBO-similar story of the day. Just, now, information technology's 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, similar Mrs. Dalloway and The Bully Gatsby respectively, that captured their disillusionment first and foremost. However, these continue to exist must-read works due to the way they exemplify arts and crafts and storytelling elements. (At least in function.)
More modernistic literature besides ushered in the more 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 sure tropes, conventions and character types, genre helps u.s.a. understand the way particular stories are shaped by categorizing them.
Without a doubt, literature helps u.s. uncover — exist information technology an uncovering of the past, a present self, or a possible hereafter. The most distinguished literary greats, similar 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 name!), capture all of these facets. In brusk, past climbing into the minds of other characters and worlds — in stepping outside of ourselves — literature allows us to empathize universal truths; change minds; stir empathy; and limited our identities and values in lasting, far-reaching means.
Source: https://www.reference.com/world-view/importance-literature-society-1a66a3cd21a90dd8?utm_content=params%3Ao%3D740005%26ad%3DdirN%26qo%3DserpIndex
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