Literary Studies: British Literature and Rhetorical Figures

What is Literature?

There are two general directions:

• Broad definition -> based on the etymology of the word literature, it refers to everything that has been written
• Narrow definition -> a diversity of approaches. Criteria scholars have applied: 1. Fictionality a. Literary texts are products of writer's imagination b. There is a frontier between fiction and reality; sometimes fiction is misguided 2. Specialised language a. Literary language is "special", it differs from normal everyday language b. Roman Jakobson: the poetic function of literary texts c. Russian formalists called this process defamiliarisation d. A lot of contemporary poetry plays with our alleged "knowledge" of the literariness of texts 3. Lack of pragmatic function a. Texts derive their meaning partly from their context. I read a novel because it is presented in a certain way b. Moreover, I use the novel as a novel, not as a cookery book, a newspaper or an encyclopedia of garden plants, for example. Why is that? These texts, in contrast to literary texts, have a definite pragmatic function. i.e., they are written and used for an specific purpose c. But it would be a mistake to take that as a basic rule, as if we read a novel to distract our mind it could also be interpreted as an specific purpose 4. Ambiguity a. Literary texts are far more ambiguous than non-literary texts (the meaning of recipes or a time-table or an instruction manual is presumed to be more or less fixed and not open to interpretation). The "human factor". b. Literary texts are more "open" than non-literary texts. They express something beyond their literal "meaning", and these other layers of meaning can be explored by attentive reading and analysis. It is a bit like archeology: the deeper one digs, the more interesting one's findings are likely to be. At the same time, one needs suitable equipment for "digging out" hidden meanings.

Topic Areas of Literary Studies

Literary History: Main Periods of British Literature

Labelling a literary period is difficult and different: it depends on the literary historian. However, lists of literary periods exist

Origins and Old English Period (Early Medieval Period)

• Runes . "Old English" or Anglo-Saxon: has existed in the early Middle Ages (=410-1066) . The story of English literature properly begins with the first written records (c. AD 700) . Most of these are anonymous.. They reflect two cultures: Christianity (e.g. The Dream of the Rood) and heroic actions (e.g. Beowulf). . Its origins were oral

Middle English Period (1066-1500 approx.) (Late Medieval Period)

• Changes in structure, syntax and vocabulary after the Norman Conquest (1066) -> Middle English
• Ideals of courtly love entered England. Romances (French and Italian influence). Tales of King Arthur
• England's first great author: Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400), The Canterbury Tales

The Renaissance (The Early Modern Period) (1500-1649)

• Renaissance = "rebirth"; it happened worldwide: England became the most powerful nation in Europe in the late 16th century
• New worlds were discovered and new ways of seeing and thinking developed (Erasmus's humanist ideas)
• Queen Elizabeth I (symbol of the Golden Age) and King James I
• William Shakespeare (1564-1616). Other major poets: Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser and John Donne
• Other important writers after Shakespeare's death: the poet and dramatist Ben Jonson (1572/3-1637; The Alchemist), and Christopher Marlowe (1564-93; Doctor Faustus)
• In the 1620s: reaction from the Puritans -> closure of theatres in 1642

Neoclassical Period (Commonwealth and Restoration) (1649-1713)

• Oliver Cromwell = leader of the Commonwealth; then King Charles II (1660)
• Time of the reign of reason, raise of the middle classes, commercial growth and scientific advances
• Andrew Marvell: one of the main poets. John Milton (1608-1674; Paradise Lost). Satire important with John Dryden

Towards Romanticism (Origin of the novel as a genre)

• It is considered that the novel began in the 1700s
• Daniel Defoe (Robinson Crusoe, 1719) and Jonathan Swift (Gulliver's Travels, 1726) were followed a little later by Samuel Richardson and Henry Fielding
• Importance of Gothic novels (Horace, Walpole, Clara Reeve, Ann Radcliffe, Matthew Lewis ... )
• In poetry, Alexander Pope arrived on scene in 1712

Romanticism (1789-1832)

• In romanticism, poets rediscover the beauty and value of nature
• Romantic poets: Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley and John Keats
• Novelist: Sir Walter Scott (historical romances); Jane Austen (women's point of view)

The Victorian Period (1837-1900)

• Queen Victoria (crowned in 1837; died in 1901)
• Changes: Industrial Revolution; Charles Darwin. Victorian novels reflect and/or criticize them
• Important novelists: Charles Dickens
• Theater: a flourishing and popular institution. 1890s: comic masterpieces of George Bernand and Oscar Wilde. Both criticized by Victorian society

The Modernist Period (1st half of the 20th century)

• Experimentation and reaction against Victorian conventions/traditions
• After World War I: poetic revolution (1920s, "Modernism")
• Novel also influenced by Modernism: complexity. E.g .: Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Katherine Mansfield, D.H. Lawrence
• After the Second World War, Britain lost its empire: Emergence of internationally acclaimed voices from the former imperial dominions

Post-Modern and Contemporary Period (2nd half of the 20th century-present)

• Post-modern literature: experimentation. Some post-modern writers are: Kurt Vonnegut, Truman Capote, Thomas Pynchon
• Other Post-World-War-II significant writers were George Orwell (Animal Farm) and Agatha Christie
• Fantasy novelists: C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia), J.R.R. Tolkien (The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings) and J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter)

Poetics and Genre

Introduction to Genre

> Genre is a French term derived from the Latin genus, generis, meaning "type", "sort" or "kind" -> All of the arts consist of genres (paintings, cinema, dancing ... ) "GENRE"-> a category or type of literature characterized by a particular form, style or content -> There are many different types of classification: genres may be determined by literary technique, tone, content or even (as in the case of fiction) length

Classification of Literary Genres

One of the classifications that comes from the classic genres of Ancient Greece divides literature into these three main genres: poetry, drama and prose:

1. Poetry
   • It is present in poems: pieces of literature written in verse
   • Imagery, and the use of rhyme, rhythm and meter is very important
   • Depending on the number of lines of the poem, it can be: a couplet, tercet, quatrain, quintain, sestet ...
   • Depending on its content or tone, it can be: lyric (connected to the personal or universal emotions), dramatic (making reference to a sad tone or its structure, if it is written in dialogues), or epic (when the focus is on what happens more than on the feelings, or if it narrates relevant or lengthy event/s). These adjectives can also be applied to plays and prose works, taking into account their predominant tone.
2. Drama:
   • A written composition mainly composed of dialogues and some stage directions
   • It can be written in verse or prose
   • It is typically designed for theatrical performance
   • Dramas are usually called "plays"
   • The two main types are: tragedy and comedy
3. Prose:
   • Writing that has no metrical structure and no regular rhythmic pattern. Prose is the ordinary form of spoken and written language whose unit is the sentence. It is commonly subdivided into:
     1. Non-fiction -> literary prose works which are mainly connected to real events. Its main purpose is normally to pass on information and educate the reader about certain facts, ideas and/or issues. For example: essays, newspaper articles, works of criticism, diaries
     2. Prose fiction -> literary prose works which are invented. For example: novels, short stories, legends, fairy tales.
        1. Novels are of different types depending on their length: Sketch (1-5 pages), flash fiction (5), short stories (5-25), novelette (25-60), novella (60-170), novel (more than 170), epic (more than 680)
        2. Novels (and short stories) are of different types depending on their content

Main Types of Prose Fiction

Introduction to the Novel

Characteristics of the novel:

• Extended work of prose fiction
• It derives from the Italian novella ("little new thing")
• XVIII century
• Everyday life
• Predecessor: the romance

Sub-genres of the Novel (or short stories)

1. The epistolary novel:
   1. Exchange of letters (e.g. Samuel Richardson, Pamela)
2. The picaresque novel:
   1. Early form, precursor of the novel
   2. Witty rascal (pícaro=rogue), with tyrannical masters
   3. Episodic; journey
   4. Origins: 16th century, Spain
   5. Examples: Cervantes, Don Quixote, and in the English tradition: Thomas Nash, The Unfortunate Traveler, Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders
3. Historical novel:
   1. Setting and some of the (chief) characters and events taken from or inspired by history
   2. E.g. Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
4. The bildungsroman:
   1. Originated in Germany
   2. Development of a character mostly from childhood to maturity
   3. Examples: J.W. Goethe, Wilhelm Meister, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones; Charles Dickens, David Copperfield; James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
5. The gothic novel:
   1. Second half of the 18th century
   2. Terror, mystery and horrors: desolate landscapes, ruined abbeys, or medieval castles with dungeons, winding staircases and sliding panels, gloomy atmospheres, supernatural forces, demonic powers and wicked tyrants
   3. Examples: Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto; Ann Radcliffe, Mysteries of Udolpho; William Faulkner, Absalom! Absalom!
6. The social novel:
   1. 1830 and 1850: 19th century realism
   2. Portrait of society (especially of lower parts)
   3. Criticizes industrial development or particular legal situations
   4. Examples: Elizabeth Gaskell, Mary Barton; Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist; Benjamin Disraeli, Sybil and Charles Kingsley, Alton Locke
7. Science fiction:
   1. Topics: quests for other worlds, alien beings or alternate realities: they can be utopian, dystopian or set in the past. Interest in scientific change and development and concern for social, climatic, geological or ecological change
   2. E.g. Mary Shelley, Frankenstein; H.G. Wells, The Time Machine; Aldous Huxley, Brave New World; George Orwell, 1984; Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange
8. Metafiction:
   1. Fictional writing which self-consciously and systematically draws attention to its status as an artefact in order to pose questions about the relationship between fiction and reality
   2. It concentrates and reflects on the process of narrating
   3. E.g. Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman; John Fowles, The French Lieutenant's Woman; Doris Leesing, The Golden Notebook; Grace Paley's A Conversation with My Father
9. Romance:
   1. Fictional narrative in prose or verse that represents a chivalric theme or relates improbable adventures of idealised characters in some remote or enchanted setting
   2. Monodimensional or static characters who are sharply discriminated as heroes or villains, masters or victims
   3. The plot emphasises adventure, and is often cast in the form of a quest for an ideal or the pursuit of an enemy
   4. Examples: Anonymous, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; Sir Philip Sidney, Arcadia; Percy B. Shelley, Queen Mab; Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables