Quantitative Studies on Small Group Reading Instruction
For many folks, the word "literature" conjures up memories of high school English course reading lists. While the Western literary canon is expanding to include, and drag, stories outside of what white, Western readers have dubbed "the classics," there are nonetheless some works that crop up in every pupil's career, from Frankenstein and the Epic of Gilgamesh to Beloved and The Great Gatsby. So, why is literature of import — and why do we 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 audio trite to say, the world'south greatest works of literature have inverse minds, sparked rebellions, and helped to alter the course of history. While it would exist impossible to contain all of literature'due south contributions and multitudes hither, nosotros're going to take a look at some of the landmark moments in this art grade's history.
Literature Transports Us To the By
Like other recovered art objects, literature has the power to tell the states about aboriginal civilizations. Not simply can we understand their customs, values and lives, but we can get a meliorate thought of what their entertainment looked like. The first-known examples of literature can be traced dorsum to aboriginal 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-class Mesopotamian verse form, was originally written around 2100 BCE. Even today, Gilgamesh is considered the first not bad masterpiece of globe literature. In fact, much of the Bible parallels this ancient work, furthering emphasizing just how universal and influential Gilgamesh was — and continues to be today.
In 375 BCE, Plato, the Athenian philosopher, authored The Commonwealth, a dialogue betwixt Socrates and his swain Greek thinkers, which explores idea-provoking questions well-nigh justice, social club and the just man. 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 on, literature was independent inside poetry and dramatic works — after all, performing plays was some other great source of entertainment. During the 11th century, or the Heian menstruation, Japanese noblewoman and lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu penned The Tale of Genji, which is considered the first 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 betwixt 1387 and 1400. Picking up the prose torch around 1485, Thomas Malory published Le Morte d'Arthur, one of the first novels in the Western canon. During the Renaissance, writers like Molière began satirizing everything from the church and authorities to society at large, showing that written works had the propensity to shift the balance of ability and make people rethink their world views.
During the 16th century, as well known equally the Ming dynasty, the Chinese novel Journey to the West was published. Attributed to Wu Cheng'en, this satire- and apologue-filled work is considered one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. Around the same time, William Shakespeare was helping to lay the foundations of modern English language and craft the literary tropes and story formats we nonetheless enjoy today. And, of course, in 1615 Miguel de Cervantes penned Don Quixote, a romantic, archetypal novel that'southward considered ane of the about influential works of all time.
Literature Gives Folks a Voice and Platform — and Let's Readers See Themselves Reflected
Over again, information technology's impossible to fully encapsulate the latitude of literary history hither. Moreover, this commodity focuses on written works, but it's important to notation that many cultures and groups of people tape stories through imagery instead — or pass their stories down in oral traditions. All of this to say, our view of literature is a narrow one, and, in many means, limited by the way educational institutions have shaped our agreement of what works are important.
James Simpson, caput of Harvard University's English Section, spoke about these limitations straight in an open letter of the alphabet to the Wall Street Journal entitled "Great Literature Magnifies Repressed Voices, Always." For Simpson, the ages-old Western literary canon, which highlights the literary contributions of white (and often directly) men, "beguile[s] the cardinal function of literature and other art forms, which is to hear the voices repressed past official forms of a given culture."
Of form, the literary canon has been refreshed in past, which proves that it's important to reshape and rethink the stories nosotros 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-like story of the 24-hour interval. But, at present, information technology's largely considered a probing, essential work — not just amusement. In the wake of World War I, authors like Virginia Woolf and F. Scott Fitzgerald penned novels, similar Mrs. Dalloway and The Great Gatsby respectively, that captured their disillusionment first and foremost. However, these continue to be must-read works due to the way they exemplify craft and storytelling elements. (At least in office.)
More than modern literature also ushered in the more than formal notion of literary sub-genres, ranging from science fiction — a genre created by Frankenstein author Mary Shelley — to romance, fantasy, and realism. By retracing sure tropes, conventions and character types, genre helps united states of america understand the mode particular stories are shaped by categorizing them.
Without a doubt, literature helps us uncover — be it an uncovering of the by, a present self, or a possible future. The near 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 name!), capture all of these facets. In short, by climbing into the minds of other characters and worlds — in stepping outside of ourselves — literature allows us to understand universal truths; change minds; stir empathy; and express 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
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