WORLD LITERATURES

Mr. Marco D. Meduranda

City of Malabon University
 Course Title and Description
Course Title: World Literatures
Course Code:
Course Credit: 3 units
Course Description: This course deals with
the study of the different literary types and
forms of world literatures.
 Course Objectives
General Objectives
This course is designed to develop the ability to
read, understand and appreciate the various
genres of world literatures. Furthermore, it aims
to inculcate among our students the desire for
knowledge and wisdom, respect for nature and
culture, love for truth, peace and justice which
eventually will constitute a compassionate,
competent and committed Thomasian.
 Course Objectives
Specific Objectives. The students are expected to:
Identify, comprehend and value the various types and
forms of literature across cultures;
Distinguish and discuss the literary style and technique
as well as the writers vision of life and theme explicated
in the text;
Show appreciation for the significant human experiences
highlighted in the literary work;
Acquire deeper insight and wisdom to accept the
complexities of life, varieties of cultures and traditions,
and accepted norms and practices;
Write critique papers based on the literary texts.
 Methodologies and Requirements
Methodologies
Lecture

Discussion/Report

Dramatization/Dramatic Reading

Creative/Critical reading

Film Viewing

Field Exposure

Requirements
Reading of assigned selections

Class participation

Submission of requirements on time

 My Requirements:
Have your book and pencil/pen ready upon arriving in
class. Also have a filler on hand.
Come to class on time.
Turn your cellular phones into SILENT mode.
If you want to say something, raise your hand and say it.
The only thoughts that we will entertain in class are
INTELLIGENT thoughts.
All intelligent thoughts are welcome.
Recite as much as you can.
Consult me if you need/want to know anything.
Do your best, and your professor and GOD will do the
rest.
 Grading System and Manual
60% - Class Standing (quizzes, recitation,
participation, projects, assignments)
40% - Major Exams (1st shifting, prelims and
finals)
Final Grade = 1st shifting grade + prelim grade +
semi-final grade / 3
Textbook View/s: Between Borders, Beyond
Barriers Understanding Peoples and Cultures
through World Literatures Lopez, Urquiola,
Biavati (UST Publishing House, 2009)
 Course Outline
Weeks 1 and 2 Background in Literature
Definition of Literature

Types of Literature
Literary Standards

Why Literature? Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru)

Week 3 Mirror on the Wall: Toward Self-

Discovery/Recovery
An Introduction Kamala Das (India)

Songbirds of Pain Garry Kilworth (UK)

The Myth of Sisyphus Albert Camus (Algeria)
 Course Outline
Week 4 The Temple of My Familiar Initiation to
Social Processes and Institutions
Movimientos de Rebeldia Gloria Anzaldua (US-Mexico
Border)
The Lawsuit Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt)

From Iliad Homer (Greece)

Week 5 First Shifting Examinations

Week 6 No Walls, No Ceilings, No Floors:
Mapping a Space of Ones Own
Revelations Katherine Mansfield (New Zealand)
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening Robert Frost
(USA)
Sandra Barry Manilow (USA)
 Course Outline
Week 7 In the Garden of Love and Romance:
Taste and See the Fruit of Passion
Sonnet 43 Elizabeth Barrett Browning (England)

Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines Pablo Neruda

(Chile)
From Like Water for Chocolate (Chabela Wedding Cake)
Laura Esquivel (Mexico)
Week 8 The Poetics of Loss: Coming to Terms
with Death, Pain and Suffering
Riders to the Sea John Millington Synge (Ireland)

A Rose for Emily William Faulkner (USA)

Management of Grief Bharati Mukherjee (India)
 Course Outline
Week 9 Telling Lives: Tales of Gender and
Sexuality
The Blank Page Isak Dinesen (Denmark)

Fish Bones Larissa Lai (Canada)

The River Merchants Wife Li Po (China)

Week 10 Preliminary Examinations

Week 11 Dividing Lines: The Ideology of
Difference
Telephone Conversation Wole Soyinka (Nigeria)

At the Portagees Alex La Guma (South Africa)

Swaddling Clothes Yukio Mishima (Japan)

 Course Outline
Week 12 CRS Week
Week 13 At the Crossroads: Of Tradition and
Change
Ah-mah Shirley Geok Lin Lim (Malaysia)

Mexican Masks Octavio Paz (Mexico)

The Female Body Margaret Atwood (Canada)

Week 14 Natures Way: An Ecology of Survival

Paraiso Ryan Cayabyab (Philippines)

Thomas Mann Wislawa Szymborska (Poland)

Both Sides, Now Joni Mitchell (Canada)

Week 15 Final Examinations

 WHAT IS
LITERATURE FOR
YOU?
DEFINITION OF LITERATURE
It is derived from the Latin term litera, which
means letters.
Some loosely interpret literature as any printed
matter within a book, a magazine or a pamphlet.
Others define it as a faithful reproduction of
mans manifold experiences blended into ones
harmonious expression.
Literature is the story of man since the world
began. It deals with ideas, thoughts, grief,
aspirations and dreams of man. It is
experiencing life through reading.
 WHY STUDY LITERATURE?
Reading is one of the greatest and most satisfying
pleasures of human beings.
Books hold the accumulated wisdom of the ages.
Literature develops in the reader certain attitudes
towards life, experience, nature and people.
Literature is a wonderful depository of the thoughts of
the best minds that the human race has produced.
As a student of Rehabilitation Sciences,
why do YOU need to study Literature?
 LITERARY STANDARDS
ARTISTRY
All good literature is artistic.

Literature is the expression of life in forms of

truth and beauty.
An artist must have a strong and abiding sense
of the beautiful. In his interpretation of life, he
must know what to select, what to leave out and
how to group details.
To do this, he must have a sense of unity,
harmony and balance.
 LITERARY STANDARDS
INTELLECTUAL VALUE
It presents a challenge to our intellect, and

our mental life is enriched as a result.

All good literatures should make us think,
provoke us thoughts, and move us to
visualize fundamental truths.
 LITERARY STANDARDS
SUGGESTIVENESS
All artistic works have a strong emotional power.

Emotions create interest and this is a reason why

we read literary works.

Instead of stating absolute facts, the artist opens
visions and a tremendous world of feeling and
speculation.
The author must arouse sincere emotions. Great
literatures are felt by the heart.
 LITERARY STANDARDS
SPIRITUAL VALUE
The history of literature tells us that great
importance has been laid in ethical values.
The Bible, Koran and the sacred books of China

and India stressed great religious and moral

truths.
Many of the worlds greatest literary works are

professedly didactic. They teach the principles of

right conduct and moral ideas.
 LITERARY STANDARDS
PERMANENCE
The world will not willingly allow anything

beautiful to perish. Good literature

endures and becomes more attractive and
meaningful as the years go by.
Great literatures give something to their
generation, and more to future
generations. Ex. Shakespeare.
 LITERARY STANDARDS
UNIVERSALITY
Good literature appeals to the widest and to the
simplest human emotions.
It knows no limitations of race and time.

It concerns itself with the elemental passions

and emotions of man love, joy, hate, sorrow,
fear that are true to human nature. Ex. The
Prodigal Son for all fathers, Homeric poems for
noble people, Romeo and Juliet for all lovers.
 LITERARY STANDARDS
STYLE
The unconscious reflection of an artists
personality.
It consists of his peculiar way of looking at
things and the manner he forms his ideas and
expressions.
It is the mark of ownership that a writer stamps
upon his creation. Ex. Joaquins verbose writing
and N.V.M. Gonzalezs simplistic and nuanced
writing.
 BODY OF THE REPORT
Brief background and influence of the author
Writing and literary styles and technique of the
author
Brief summary or description and theme of the
poem, story or essay
Images, symbols, figurative speech and other
literary devices found in the selection.
Personal interpretation and insight about the
selection
Written or hard copy of the report to be
submitted during the presentation
 The Reporters:
Group 1: Songbirds of Pain Garry Kilworth (UK) (Next week)

Group 2: The Lawsuit Naguib Mahfouz

Group 3: Revelations Katherine Mansfield

Group 4: Sandra Barry Manilow

Group 5: Sonnet 43 Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Group 6: Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines Pablo Neruda

Group 7: Riders to the Sea John Millington Synge

 The Reporters:
Group 8: Fish Bones Larissa Lai

Group 9: Swaddling Clothes Yukio Mishima (Japan)

Group 10: Ah-mah Shirley Geok Lin Lim (Malaysia)

Group 11: Mexican Masks Octavio Paz

Group 12: Both Sides, Now Joni Mitchell

APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF
LITERATURE
THEORY OF ART AS IMITATION
This theory, formulated by Aristotle in about 300 B.C.,
states that art is an imitation of life but not mere servile
imitation. The imitation is creative and it seeks to
represent the truth.
THEORY OF ART AS EXPRESSION

An artist does not only imitate, but seeks to express himself

the internal world of his feelings and not just the
external world of his reality.
THE AFFECTIVE THEORY OF ART

A work of art should arouse a definite calculated emotion

on a reader.
 TYPES OF LITERATURE
POETRY it was the first to be developed and
the best literary works have been written in
this form. It uses rhyme, meter, exalted and
figurative language, and has melody, harmony
and balance.
A. Narrative Poetry a story-telling poetry.
1. Epic long narrative poem set against the
distant past relating the exploits of a semi-
legendary hero. Ex. The Iliad & The Odyssey
2. Metrical Romance long rambling story in
verse characteristic of the Middle Ages. Ex.
King Arthur and Knights of the Round Table
 TYPES OF LITERATURE
3. Ballad story-telling verse meant to be sung.
a) Folk songs of the unlettered folk. Ex. Get Up
and Bar the Door, The Twa Sisters
b) Literary songs written by the literary people.
Ex. La Belle Dame Sans Merci John Keats
4. Metrical Tale it is to poetry what the short
story is to prose. Ex. Canterbury Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer
 TYPES OF LITERATURE
B. Lyric Poetry derives its name from the musical
instrument lyre, played by wandering
minstrels, and is primarily intended to be sung.
1. Ode most majestic lyric type and expresses
enthusiasm, lofty praise or homage for a
person, thing or object. Ex. Ode to the West
Wind Percy Bysshe Shelley.
2. Elegy voices the authors personal grief for a
loved one, or loss affecting the public or simply
a meditation about death. Elegy Written in a
Country Churchyard Keats, O Captain, My
Captain Whitman.
 TYPES OF LITERATURE
3. Sonnet distinguished by its 14 iambic
pentameter lines. Ex. Sonnet 43 Browning,
Shakespeares sonnets
4. Song are short poems meant to be sung, which
are either secular or sacred, anthems, oratories
or hymns. Ex. Song to Celia Johnson, Auld
Lang Syne Burns
5. Simple Lyric lyrical poems that do not belong
to the other types of lyric. Ex. Psalm 23 King
David, Birches - Frost
 TYPES OF LITERATURE
C. Dramatic Poetry poetic form used to set forth life and
character by means of speech and action.
1. Poetic Plays comedy (protagonist succeeds over the
travails of his plight), tragedy (protagonist emerges as
the loser in the end), dramatic history, farce and
melodrama (exaggerated, excessive and plot situations
are more important than the plot).
2. Masque is related more to the opera than to drama,
characterized by a splendid setting, elaborate costumes,
make-up, music and tableaux.
3. Dramatic Monologue has only one speaker and is
adopted for small and non-regular productions.
 TYPES OF LITERATURE
PROSE uses ordinary and personal
language, sentences and paragraphs and
is more direct and intimate to the reader.
1. Modern Drama three act and one-act
plays. Ex. A Dolls House Ibsen
2. Essay presents in prose form the
authors thoughts, feelings and
observations on some phases of life that
are of interest. Ex. Of Studies Bacon
 TYPES OF LITERATURE
3. Prose Fiction prose narratives that employ creativity
and imagination:
a. Prose Allegory long implied comparison between
unlike things. Characters are more symbols than
personages. Ex. Animal Farm Orwell
b. Prose Romance metrical romance in prose form. Ex.
Don Quixote Cervantes
c. Novel a three-element prose narrative (setting, plot and
characters) Ex. Harry Potter novels
d. Novelette a short novel with a simpler plot and fewer
characters. Ex. Tuesdays with Morrie Albom
e. Short Story one unit of place, time and action prose.
Ex. The Necklace - Maupassant
 TYPES OF LITERATURE
4. Biography and Autobiography
fictionalized story of human life as it
presents the highlights and struggles. Ex.
The Life of Princess Diana
5. Letters, Diaries and Journals life
accounts as they are lived from day to day,
separated by dates. Ex. The Diary of Anne
Frank
6. Other Prose Forms
 Conventions Used in Formalism
(New Criticism School)
Establishment of a key moment
(epiphany)
Use of authority in fiction (point of view)
first person, third person, omniscient,
central intelligence or scenic
Use of symbols literal and symbolic
Use of a unified effect beginning, middle
and end (exposition-climax-key moment-
resolution)
 Elements of a Short Story
Plot Structure/ Conflict
Character/s

Setting

Theme

Three Main Character Changes:

1. A reversal of attitude

2. A heightening of an old awareness

3. A sudden realization of a truth about oneself,

human nature or condition.
 Literary Standards
Artistry
Intellectual

Suggestiveness

Spiritual

Permanence

Universality

Style

Three Main Types of Character Alienation

Personal (Man Vs. Himself)

Social (Man Vs. Another Man, Man Vs. Society)

Cosmic (Man Vs. God, Man Vs. the Universe)

 LITERARY MOVEMENTS
ROMANTICISM
Life is portrayed as good.

The absent is more revered than the

present.
Nostalgia and reminiscences are common
themes.
The hero is a perfect knight in shining
armor debonair, intelligent, ideal.
 LITERARY MOVEMENTS
REALISM
Life is portrayed as objectively as possible.

Life is both good and bad, meaningful and

meaningless.
The hero is a guy next door or a girl on the
street, with both endearing and weak
qualities.
The approach of the writer is objectivity.
 LITERARY MOVEMENTS
NATURALISM
Life is meaningless. It is definitely bad all
the way.
Man is naturally weak. He is an animal
drawn to animalistic tendencies.
The hero is a victim of his environment.
Even when he is good at the start, he will
be corrupted by stronger forces
surrounding him.