A Literature Review on the Practice of Placentophagia
For many folks, the word "literature" conjures upwards memories of high school English class 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 nevertheless some works that crop upwards in every student's career, from Frankenstein and the Epic of Gilgamesh to Love and The Groovy Gatsby. And then, why is literature important — and why do nosotros study information technology?
Merriam-Webster defines literature as verse or prose that has "excellence of form or expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest." While information technology may audio trite to say, the world'southward greatest works of literature accept inverse minds, sparked rebellions, and helped to alter the course of history. While it would be impossible to contain all of literature's contributions and multitudes here, we're going to have a look at some of the landmark moments in this art form'due south history.
Literature Transports Us To the By
Similar other recovered art objects, literature has the power to tell us almost ancient civilizations. Not only can we empathize their community, values and lives, but we can become a amend idea of what their amusement looked similar. The first-known examples of literature can be traced dorsum to aboriginal Mesopotamia. Around 3400 BCE, the Sumerians adult a organisation of writing called 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-grade Mesopotamian poem, was originally written around 2100 BCE. Fifty-fifty today, Gilgamesh is considered the first great masterpiece of earth literature. In fact, much of the Bible parallels this ancient 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 idea-provoking questions about justice, order and the just man. And, around the 8th century BCE, the landmark epics attributed to the poet Homer, The Odyssey and The Iliad, helped preserve Greek mythology and history in writing.
Literature Helps Us Reevaluate Our Worlds
Early on, literature was independent within poetry 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 first modern novel by many scholars.
Years later, in Europe, things started to shift in a meaningful style in the wake of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, a collection of 24 stories written in Middle English language between 1387 and 1400. Picking upward 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 social club at large, showing that written works had the propensity to shift the balance of ability and brand people rethink their globe views.
During the 16th century, also known as the Ming dynasty, the Chinese novel Journeying to the Due west was published. Attributed to Wu Cheng'en, this satire- and allegory-filled piece of work is considered i of the 4 Bang-up Classical Novels of Chinese literature. Around the aforementioned fourth dimension, William Shakespeare was helping to lay the foundations of modern English and craft the literary tropes and story formats we still enjoy today. And, of grade, in 1615 Miguel de Cervantes penned Don Quixote, a romantic, archetypal novel that'due south considered one of the near influential works of all fourth dimension.
Literature Gives Folks a Voice and Platform — and Let's Readers Come across Themselves Reflected
Again, information technology's impossible to fully encapsulate the latitude of literary history hither. Moreover, this article focuses on written works, but it's of import to notation that many cultures and groups of people record stories through imagery instead — or laissez passer their stories down in oral traditions. All of this to say, our view of literature is a narrow i, and, in many ways, express by the style educational institutions take shaped our understanding of what works are important.
James Simpson, head of Harvard University's English language Department, spoke almost these limitations directly in an open up letter of the alphabet to the Wall Street Journal entitled "Neat Literature Magnifies Repressed Voices, Always." For Simpson, the ages-old Western literary canon, which highlights the literary contributions of white (and ofttimes direct) men, "betray[s] the fundamental office of literature and other fine art forms, which is to hear the voices repressed by official forms of a given culture."
Of class, the literary canon has been refreshed in past, which proves that it'due south of import to reshape and rethink the stories nosotros deem essential. For example, at the time of its writing Nathaniel Hawthorne'southward The Scarlet Letter was kind of the scandalous (easily consumable) HBO-like story of the day. Simply, now, it'south largely considered a probing, essential work — not just entertainment. In the wake of World War I, authors like Virginia Woolf and F. Scott Fitzgerald penned novels, like 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 manner they exemplify arts and crafts and storytelling elements. (At least in function.)
More modern literature as well ushered in the more formal notion of literary sub-genres, ranging from science fiction — a genre created by Frankenstein writer Mary Shelley — to romance, fantasy, and realism. By retracing certain tropes, conventions and character types, genre helps us sympathise the way particular stories are shaped past categorizing them.
Without a doubtfulness, literature helps us uncover — be it an uncovering of the by, a present self, or a possible futurity. The most 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 proper 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 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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