LITERATURELITERATURE

By: Valerie L. Cruz

Why do we need to study literature?

“There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories.” ---Ursula K. LeGuin

“You cannot appreciate something you don’t understand.”

Literature

• provides insights and intellectual stimulation to the reader.

• discovering literature is discovering language.

• a product of particular culture that concretizes man’s array of values, emotions, actions and ideas.

• a collection of human experiences that tells about people and their world.

• an art that reflects the works of imagination, aesthetics and creative writing.

Literary Standards

Universality

Literature appeals to everyone, regardless of culture, race, sex, and time which are all considered significant.

Artistry

Literature has an aesthetic appeal and thus possesses a sense of beauty.

Intellectual Value

It stimulate critical thinking that enriches mental processes of abstract and reasoning, making man realize the fundamental of truths of life and its nature.

Suggestiveness

It unravels man’s emotional power to define symbolism, nuances, implied meanings, images and messages, giving and evoking visions above and beyond the plane of ordinary life and experience.

Spiritual Value

Literature elevates the spirit and the soul and thus has the power to motivate and to inspire.

Permanence

Literature endures across time and draws out the time factor:Timeliness – occurring at a particular time.Timelessness – remaining invariable throughout time.

Style

Literature presents peculiar ways on how man sees life as evidence by the formation of his ideas, form, structures, and expressions which are marked by their memorable substance.

LITERARY MODELS

The study of literature appeals in different aspects and importance.

• Cultural Model• Language Model• Personal Growth Model

Cultural Model

Literature aims to understand and appreciate cultures and ideologies different from one’s own in time and space.

Language Model

Literature aims to promote language development like vocabulary and structure.

Personal Growth Model

Literature aims to help one achieve lasting pleasure and deep satisfaction in reading.