What is literature. This power point explain about what is literature

1. INTRODUCTION TO
LITERATURE
INTAKE 1st
SEMESTER
Eka Fitriana, MA
Drs. Nur Ahmadi, M. Hum

2. WHAT IS LITERATURE
General assumption:
Literature refers to works based on imagination
Literature strongly tight and bound with one’s
feeling
Literature is irrational
Literature is illogical
Literature has no contribution in the academic
sphere

3. FACTS ABOUT LITERATURE
Literature:
Not just an aesthetic object or artifact
It is the world of human
It is a record of human civilization
It expresses the thought, ideas, logic, vision,
mission, principles of life, etc
It is a medium used to propose cultures and
languages

4. NOTIONS AND DEFINITIONS
Literature is derived from:
Latin word litteratura which refers to form or piece of writing
While in Indonesian, it is known as sastra or kesusastraan
The word sas and tra is from Sanskrit language which means to
construct, to teach or to direct. It is also imply the meaning as
medium or tool.
Therefore sastra can be said as a medium of teaching or
instruction
Yet, literature also known as balles-letters (French) which refers
to beautiful words to express one’s emotion

5. NOTIONS AND DEFINITIONS CONTD
…
Warren and Wellek: literature not just merely expressions in
form of printed and written writings but also in oral and spoken
expressions
Eagleton: not just limited on the imaginative or fictional writings
but also factual writing such as news
Castle: literature should be viewed as a creative work
Frost: performance in words

6. THEORIES OF LITERATURE
Memetic:
This concept is emphasizing on literature is an
imitation of human life, the reality and the universe.
Since, it focuses on those things therefore the use of
language does not become the primary concern when
writing such a story.
Plato states that literary work is a copy of reality
which directed transferred into the work of arts by the
writer or author. Later on the concept is revised, where
the process of copying is in the mental side of the
author with creativity involve in the writing.

7. UNCLE’S TOM’S CABIN
(HARRIET BEECHER STOWE)
Being opposed to the existence of slavery, she used
the fact of slavery to be the prominent source of
inspiration to write her story. Through her imagination
and creativity, she made up the characters in her story
which were not found in real life but it correspondence
to the real fact happened during the time.
So, literature not just merely about the copying what is
in the reality, but it is actually the reflection of human
life, thought, ideas, principles, etc.

8. THORIES OF LITRATURE CONTD ….
Expressive:
The word express refers to the feeling which is closely related
to one’s heart. Therefore the expressive theory is defined as an
expression of the author’s emotion or conscience. The emotion
is related to one’s mental side which contains awareness,
honesty and truth.
Wordsworth defines literature as spontaneous expression of the
author’s feeling. Furthermore, he precisely said that poetry as a
spontaneously overflow of powerful feelings. Since those
feeling emerge spontaneously therefore, it shows genuine and
real truth.

9. •This theory holds that a piece of art ought to arouse some emotion or
at least affect the perceiver in some way
In Alexander Pope’s words, the artist
“Gives my heart a thousand pains
Can make make me feel each passion that he feigns
Enrage,compose,with more than magic of art
With pity and with terror tear my heart
And snatch me o’er the earth or through the air
To Thebes, to Athens, when he will, and where “
THE AFFECTIVE THEORY

10. •These theories also hold that stimulation of certain emotions is good
•Most readers seek emotional stimulus from books and they want to
identify themselves with the central character
•It also insists that the main aim is not to induce a temporary emotional
state, but to induce an emotional state that will lead to some kind of
action
•Finally as Ezekiel Phalele says , the best poetry is one, that has a
‘memorable’ expression of ‘revolutionary passion and ideas’
THE AFFECTIVE THEORY (CONTD.)

11. Back to the opening question : What is Literature?
The simple truth is that there is no satisfactory answer !
But it is possible for us to say that works of art:
•Give an insight into reality ( as the imitative theory holds)
•Broaden our awareness of possibilities of experience( as the
expressive theory holds )
•They valuably affect our nervous system (as the affective theory holds)
However, all of these theories need not hold for a piece of art. They just
contribute to a deeper and a more conscious awareness of what is
valuable in the works we read.
TENTATIVE CONCLUSIONS