The Foundation for a Good Research Proposal Is a Good Literature Review
For many folks, the word "literature" conjures up memories of high school English form reading lists. While the Western literary catechism is expanding to include, and elevate, stories outside of what white, Western readers have dubbed "the classics," there are nevertheless some works that ingather up in every student'south career, from Frankenstein and the Epic of Gilgamesh to Beloved and The Great Gatsby. So, why is literature important — and why do we written report it?
Merriam-Webster defines literature equally 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 globe'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's contributions and multitudes here, we're going to take a look at some of the landmark moments in this art form'southward history.
Literature Transports Us To the Past
Similar other recovered art objects, literature has the power to tell united states about aboriginal civilizations. Not only can nosotros sympathise their customs, values and lives, but we can get a better idea of what their amusement looked like. The first-known examples of literature can be traced back to ancient Mesopotamia. Effectually 3400 BCE, the Sumerians adult a system of writing called cuneiform, which allowed scribes to record myths, hymns and poesy. 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-form Mesopotamian poem, was originally written around 2100 BCE. Even today, Gilgamesh is considered the start great masterpiece of world literature. In fact, much of the Bible parallels this ancient work, furthering emphasizing just how universal and influential Gilgamesh was — and continues to exist today.
In 375 BCE, Plato, the Athenian philosopher, authored The Republic, a dialogue betwixt Socrates and his fellow Greek thinkers, which explores thought-provoking questions well-nigh justice, gild and the simply 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.
Literature Helps Usa Reevaluate Our Worlds
Early, literature was contained within poesy and dramatic works — after all, performing plays was another groovy source of entertainment. During the 11th century, or the Heian flow, Japanese noblewoman and lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu penned The Tale of Genji, which is considered the first modern novel past many scholars.
Years afterwards, in Europe, things started to shift in a meaningful manner in the wake of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, a drove of 24 stories written in Middle English language between 1387 and 1400. Picking upwardly the prose torch around 1485, Thomas Malory published Le Morte d'Arthur, one of the get-go novels in the Western canon. During the Renaissance, writers like Molière began satirizing everything from the church and government to social club 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, also known as the Ming dynasty, the Chinese novel Journeying to the West was published. Attributed to Wu Cheng'en, this satire- and allegory-filled work is considered one of the 4 Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. Effectually 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 all the same savour today. And, of course, in 1615 Miguel de Cervantes penned Don Quixote, a romantic, archetypal novel that'due south considered 1 of the most influential works of all time.
Literature Gives Folks a Voice and Platform — and Allow's Readers See 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'south important to note that many cultures and groups of people tape 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 past the mode educational institutions have shaped our understanding of what works are important.
James Simpson, head of Harvard University'southward English language Department, spoke nearly these limitations directly in an open letter to the Wall Street Journal entitled "Great Literature Magnifies Repressed Voices, E'er." For Simpson, the ages-old Western literary canon, which highlights the literary contributions of white (and often straight) men, "betray[s] the key function of literature and other art forms, which is to hear the voices repressed by official forms of a given civilization."
Of course, the literary catechism has been refreshed in past, which proves that it's important to reshape and rethink the stories nosotros deem essential. For example, at the time of its writing Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Ruby Letter was kind of the scandalous (easily consumable) HBO-similar story of the day. But, now, it'southward 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, similar Mrs. Dalloway and The Swell Gatsby respectively, that captured their disillusionment offset and foremost. However, these keep to exist must-read works due to the way they exemplify craft and storytelling elements. (At to the lowest degree in part.)
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 grapheme types, genre helps united states understand the mode particular stories are shaped past categorizing them.
Without a dubiousness, literature helps us uncover — be it an uncovering of the past, a present self, or a possible futurity. The near 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 nosotros don't take the space to proper name!), capture all of these facets. In short, by climbing into the minds of other characters and worlds — in stepping exterior of ourselves — literature allows us to sympathise universal truths; modify 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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