Introduction To Literature

BASIC QUESTION ABOUT LITERATURE

1. What is literature, anyway?

2. Why study literature?

3. How do you study literature?

Is there literature that's worth studying?

How do we make the distinction?

How does one critically think about and read literature?

WHAT IS LITERATURE???

Some Definition...........

Etymologically :

1. Literature is literally “acquaintance with letters” (Latin littera meaning “an individual written     character/letter”). The term has come to identify a collection of texts. As a proper noun it refers to a whole body of literary work.

2. We are concerned more with imaginative or creative writing. The kind of writing that is not real.

3. A text is a creation of the poet/author/dramatist available to an audience and meant to create an       impact – intellectual and emotional

Words are the literary artist’s tools. Literature is verbal art.

5. is a form of art.

 narrows its meaning, equates literature to works of imagination or creative writing.

6. Literature is the art of written works.

7. Literature is a term used to describe written or spoken material. Broadly speaking, "literature" is used to describe anything from creative writing to more technical or scientific works, but the term is most commonly used to refer to works of the creative imagination, including works of poetry, drama, fiction (prose), and nonfiction.

8. Sastra atau Kesusastraan adalah pengungkapan dari fakta artistik dan imajinatif sebagai manifestasi kehidupan manusia. (dan masyarakat) melalui bahasa sebagai medium dan memiliki efek yang positif terhadap kehidupan manusia (kemanusiaan).

WHY STUDY LITERATURE ?

1. We study literature because it enriches us; for wisdom, for entertainment, for an understanding of kinds human experiences.

2. We study literature because it is deep, beautiful and moving.

3. We study literature because it is an excellent way to sharpen your close reading skills, enable critical thinking, and clean our general sense of art appreciation.

HOW DO WE STUDY LITERATURE ?

There are many critical ways to approach a text including the formalist, biographical, historical, textual, psychological, mythological, sociological, deconstructionist, feminist, or reader-response, semiotic etc.

Formalist critics focus on the formal elements of a text. They examine the relationship between form and meaning, emphasizing how a work is arranged. This kind of close reading pays special attention to diction, figures of speech, plot, characterization, narrative technique, rhyme schemes, meter etc. Formalists look at how these elements work together to give kind to a work while contributing to its meaning. Information that goes beyond the text - biography, history, politics, economics, and so on - are regarded as extrinsic.

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