Background Literature Review Pertaining to the Early Head Start Study
For many folks, the word "literature" conjures up memories of high school English class reading lists. While the Western literary canon is expanding to include, and elevate, stories exterior of what white, Western readers accept dubbed "the classics," there are yet some works that crop up in every educatee's career, from Frankenstein and the Epic of Gilgamesh to Beloved and The Great Gatsby. So, why is literature important — and why do nosotros study it?
Merriam-Webster defines literature every bit verse or prose that has "excellence of course or expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest." While it may sound trite to say, the earth's greatest works of literature have inverse minds, sparked rebellions, and helped to modify the course of history. While information technology would be impossible to contain 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'due south history.
Literature Transports Us To the Past
Similar other recovered fine art objects, literature has the ability to tell us nearly ancient civilizations. Not merely tin can we understand their customs, values and lives, simply nosotros tin can become a better idea of what their amusement looked like. The first-known examples of literature can be traced back to ancient Mesopotamia. Around 3400 BCE, the Sumerians developed a system of writing called cuneiform, which allowed scribes to tape myths, hymns and poetry. Some of these primeval-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 verse form, was originally written around 2100 BCE. Even today, Gilgamesh is considered the first 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 be today.
In 375 BCE, Plato, the Athenian philosopher, authored The Republic, a dialogue between Socrates and his fellow Greek thinkers, which explores thought-provoking questions nigh justice, order and the merely 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 on, literature was contained within poetry and dramatic works — afterward all, performing plays was another great source of amusement. 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 manner in the wake of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, a collection of 24 stories written in Heart English betwixt 1387 and 1400. Picking up the prose torch effectually 1485, Thomas Malory published Le Morte d'Arthur, 1 of the first novels in the Western canon. During the Renaissance, writers similar Molière began satirizing everything from the church and regime to society at large, showing that written works had the propensity to shift the balance of power and brand people rethink their globe views.
During the 16th century, also known as the Ming dynasty, the Chinese novel Journey to the West was published. Attributed to Wu Cheng'en, this satire- and allegory-filled work is considered 1 of the Four Not bad Classical Novels of Chinese literature. Around the aforementioned time, William Shakespeare was helping to lay the foundations of modernistic English language and arts and crafts the literary tropes and story formats nosotros still savor today. And, of course, in 1615 Miguel de Cervantes penned Don Quixote, a romantic, archetypal novel that'due south considered one of the most influential works of all time.
Literature Gives Folks a Voice and Platform — and Let'due south Readers See Themselves Reflected
Again, it'due south impossible to fully encapsulate the breadth of literary history here. Moreover, this article focuses on written works, merely it's of import to notation that many cultures and groups of people tape stories through imagery instead — or pass their stories down in oral traditions. All of this to say, our view of literature is a narrow one, and, in many ways, express by the way educational institutions have shaped our understanding of what works are of import.
James Simpson, head of Harvard University'southward English Department, spoke virtually these limitations directly in an open letter to the Wall Street Journal entitled "Smashing Literature Magnifies Repressed Voices, Always." For Simpson, the ages-onetime Western literary catechism, which highlights the literary contributions of white (and often straight) men, "betray[s] the cardinal 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 information technology'southward of import to reshape and rethink the stories we deem essential. For case, 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. But, now, it's largely considered a probing, essential piece of work — not just amusement. In the wake of World War I, authors like Virginia Woolf and F. Scott Fitzgerald penned novels, similar Mrs. Dalloway and The Great Gatsby respectively, that captured their disillusionment first and foremost. However, these proceed to be must-read works due to the way they exemplify arts and crafts and storytelling elements. (At least in function.)
More modern literature also ushered in the more formal notion of literary sub-genres, ranging from scientific discipline fiction — a genre created by Frankenstein writer Mary Shelley — to romance, fantasy, and realism. By retracing certain tropes, conventions and character types, genre helps united states of america understand the way detail stories are shaped by categorizing them.
Without a dubiety, literature helps united states uncover — be information technology an uncovering of the past, 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 than folks we don't take the space to 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 understand universal truths; change minds; stir empathy; and limited our identities and values in lasting, far-reaching ways.
Source: https://www.reference.com/world-view/importance-literature-society-1a66a3cd21a90dd8?utm_content=params%3Ao%3D740005%26ad%3DdirN%26qo%3DserpIndex
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