Introduction to English Literature

Asih Sigit PadmanugrahaSeptember 2011

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Introduction to English Literature

Fields of Literary Studies

Text Study Stage Performance

Literary Production

Creative Writing

English Dept. Theater

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THE PLACE OF LITERATURE IN ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

What is Literature?

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Literary study is special: Prof. A. TEEUWWhy? Compare it to other fields of study

MathChemistry

Literature or literature

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Literature: Western TermLiterature: EnglishLiteratur: GermanLittérature : French

Literature means grammatika (Greek)Litteratura and grammatika : littera and

gramma meaning letterLiterature is anything written, the use of

language in written form

Latin: Litteratura

What is sastra?

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Sastra Sanskrit sãs-, “directing, teaching, giving instruction”–tra refers to tools, equipment, meansSastra tools to teach, guiding book, manual

or books used to teachWhat about text book?

The Definition of Literature

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1. Anything written2. Dulce et utile 3. Performance in words4. Spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling5. Imaginative writings6. Writing moving the readers’ hearts and

emotions 7. Violation of language8. Beautiful thoughts and ideas in beautiful

expression

1. Literature is anything written

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Too broad What about books on engineering?What about writings on the instant noodle

wrapper? What about oral literature?

2. Literature educates and entertains

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It derives from “our inborn love of telling a story, of arranging words in pleasing patterns, of expressing in words some special aspect of our human experience”

Is it always useful and entertaining?

3. Performance in Words

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Indicating literature is entertainingWhat about Danarto’s “the box poem?”What about “cyber literature?”What about poems using audiovisual effects?

4. Spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling

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Poets have extraordinary power, imagination and feeling.

What about logic and reason? It is the ultimate truth.

Romanticist vs. Neoclassicists

5. Imaginative writings

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Comic book is imaginative but it is rarely considered as literature

Eagleton argues that history, philosophy, and also other sciences are also imaginative

The questions:Is Darwin’s “The Origins of Species”

imaginative or factual?Is Bunyan’s prophecy imaginative or

factual?

Writings moving the reader’s hearts and emotions

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• Is reading on Tsunami not touching the reader’s hearts and emotions?

• Is the killing field in Vietnam not touching enough?• Is the bombing in traditional market in the end of

May 2005 not making us “trembling”?

Violation of language

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This idea argues that the literary language is peculiar compared to the one used by common people

This means that the “graffiti” might be included as literature.

Beautiful thoughts and ideas in beautiful expression

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• Shakespeare’s “Winter” expresses a simple theme, an ordinary life in a winter in England

• The Glass Canoe contains many harsh languages which are far from being beautiful

Definition important to bear in mind

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• Sapardi Djoko Damono and Jonathan Culler define literature as “a cultural production which is in a particular place and time considered as literature”

• This implies literature as a something not created in a vacuum condition

• Literature is one era might not be considered as literature in another era

Literature and Culture

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• Based on the previous definition, therefore, as Eagleton argues, how is literature read means whose culture is privileged

• This means literature and “power” is inseparable• Here comes Eagleton’s thesis called “political

criticism”