Chapter 3 TEACHING LITERATURE
Chapter 3 TEACHING LITERATURE
Objectives:
At the end of this chapter, the students will be able to:
The work and the world it imitates (MIMETIC) literature is studied as a product of its
setting: the time and place where it exists – its social, historical and cultural contexts
takes from the classical Aristotlean idea that literature imitates or reflects the real world
or the world of ideal concepts or things from which the subject of literature is derived
Mimetic theory thus presents the literary work in relation to its social, historical, and
cultural contexts. The work and the world it imitates (MIMETIC)
The concept of mimesis was very important for the Greeks because they believed
that art was a search for imitating the beauty of reality, and this concept of imitation is
very important in the search for true art that reflects reality accurately. Aristotle also
believed that mimesis is the key to cathartic response in a tragedy.
The work in relation to its author (AUTHORIAL) holds that the author is the sole source of
meaning – literature is a very private expression of the writer’s feelings, imagination,
inspiration, and intension contends that an author consciously or unconsciously writes
about the self thus, meaning is dependent on one’s knowledge of the author’s life, also
required in making sense of the work are the genesis of the author’s works, the sources
of the material, and the development of writing craft and style. The work in relation to
its author (AUTHORIAL)
The work and its readers (READER-RESPONSE) reading is a collaboration among the
writer, the text, and the reader who receives the message and enriches it with his/her
own experiences, thoughts, and beliefs is also called as affective or pragmatic theory. It
recognizes the ability of literature to arouse a particular emotion or produce a certain
effect on its readers, reading a literary text is part of a complex process that includes a
collaboration between the writer (who has the message), the text (consisting of symbols
the writer uses to convey the message), and the reader (who receives the message
and enriches it with his or her own experiences, thoughts, and beliefs).reading relies on
one’s personal experiences and state of mind, meaning is not fixed. Textual response is
re-created every time one reads the literary text. The work and its readers (READER-
RESPONSE)
The work in relation to other works of literature (LITERARY TRADITION) literature belongs to
a continuum: it is influenced by earlier works and, in turn, influences later works relates
the work to its literary history by identifying the tradition to which it belongs. This means
probing the literary text’s link to other works of the same period or movement, or by
comparing it with other works of the same genres. This theory entails examining the
common characteristics, the shared literary style, the communal ideas, and the
collective attitude that unites the literary work to its tradition. The work in relation to
other works of literature (LITERARY TRADITION)
The work as an entity in itself (TEXTUAL ANALYSIS) a literary work has its own merit and
significance and reflects the elements of a literary genre, literary devices, and style
maintains that any literary study should be limited to the text. All other considerations
like the writer’s milieu, the author, the tradition, and the reader responses are all
secondary to the text itself. The work as an entity in itself (TEXTUAL ANALYSIS)
Creative Writing Methods : journal writing, closure writing, team writing, writing workshop