MATA KULIAH

INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH
LITERATURE
TOPIC 1 : W H A T L I T E R A T U R E I S
1.1 The Definition of Literature.

Talking about the definition of literature is an endless discussion , it is very

debatable, because everyone has his own definition that is influenced much by his

background knowledge and experience. Etymologically, literature from latin littera,

letter, is the art of written works, the word literature means acquaintance with letters ,

whether in World English Dictionary , literature refers to :

(1) Written material such as poetry, novels, essays, etc, especially

works of imagination characterized by excellence of style and

expression and by themes of general or enduring interest

(2) The body of written works of a particular culture or people

(3) The art or profession of a writer.

Furthermore, in http://www.answer.com/topic/literature that literature

means:

(1) The body of written works of a language period or culture

(2) Imaginative or creative writing, especially of recognized artistic

values, literature must be an analysis of experience and a synthesis

of the findings into a unity, and

(3) The art or occupation of a literary writer.

Then, Jonathan Culler argues that prior to 1800 literature and

analogous term in other European languages meant writings or book

language is removed from other contexts, detached from other

purposes, it can be interpreted as literature though it must possess

some qualities that make it responsive to such interpretation. If

literature is language decontextualised, cut off from other functions

and purposes, it is also itself a context, which promotes or elicit special

kinds of attention. For instance, readers attend to potential

complexities and look for implicit meaning without assuming, say, that

the utterance is telling them to do something. To describe literature

would be to analyze a set of assumptions and interpretative operations

readers may bring to bear on such texts.

In addition to Culler’s opinion, Esther Lombardi says that literature

is a term used to describe written or spoken material. Broadly speaking

literature is used to describe anything from creative writing to move

technical or scientific work, but the term is most commonly used to

refer to works of the creative imagination including works of poetry ,

drama, fiction, and non-fiction.

Referring to the above explanation, it can be stated that literature

falls into two major types that are written and oral literature. Oral

literature includes ballads, myth, jokes, folktales, and fables where as

written source has drama, novel, poetry, and non fictional literature.

Although there is no fix definition of literature, everyone can feel ,

understand, and differ them into another writing. Let us take “Eagle”.

According to the Encarta World English Dictionary that the eagle is : large

bird of prey, a large and powerful bird of prey with a hooked bill and
broad wing span that hunts by day and is noted for its keen eyesight and

majestic scaring flight ( 1999 : 585). Based on the given explanation, the

readers do not need to think over to know what the bird looks like and his

characteristics because everything has been clearly explained , on the

contrary, if it is in the hands of Alfred Lord Tennyson, it will be :

He claps the crag with crooked hands;

Close to the sun in Lonely lands,

Ring’d with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;

He watches from his mountain walls,

And like a thunderbolt, he falls.

In two stanzas, Alfred Lord Tennyson describes the Eagle in different

way. He did not use the words “large and powerful” to describe it, even

intentionally he did not give the title to his short poem. In fact, the readers

can say that its title should be “ Eagle” based on the given clues through

the series sentences. It is only “the Eagle” that is able to clap the crag with

his crooked hands. The Eagle is so powerful because he is able to fly

highly close to the sun in a very beautiful season in the azure world. From

his place, he can have a look the wrinkled sea beneath him crawls and

finally as fast as a thunderbolt , he falls. When the readers are reading the

above short poem, they have to play a game of imagination to describe

what the eagle looks like. The reader’s sense of perception is stimulated to

work, they have to use their eyes to enjoy the beautiful day, they have to
go to the beach to have a look the wave which moves slowly as the baby

crawls.

In short, the above short poem gives different effect on the readers.

This fact is in line with what Rene Wellek and Austin Warren argue that

literature is a potential cause of experience, literature is like a living

essence that is a living organism with the potential to affect other beings.

By reading literary works, the readers are able to expand their experiences,

to stimulate their imagination, and to expose them to different kinds of

people. In other words, literature offers the readers a fantasy world in

which the readers can escape from the realistic world to contemplate or a

surrealistic vision of the future. Literature introduces the readers to new

worlds of experience. When one reads great literature, great drama,

speeches , or sermons , she feels that the human mind has not achieved

anything greater than the ability to share feelings and thought. Ultimately,

the readers may discover meaning in literature by looking at what the

author says and how she says it. The readers may interpret the author’s

message, so literature is important because it speaks to the readers , it is

universal and it affects them. In accordance with this fact, the readers have

certain goals when they are reading literary works. Some of them would

like to escape from their real life to forget their problem, so they want to

get the entertainment, while others would like to get the deeper

understanding of its meaning by analyzing it based on literary theory they

have known. Then, in academic circles, the decoding of the text is of

carried out through the use of literary theory, using a mythological,

sociological, psychological, historical , or other approach. In other words,

the results of their reading efforts will be worth it, so literature is a speech

act or textual events that elicits certain kinds of attention. It contrasts with

other sorts of speech acts, such as imparting information, asking questions

or making promise. In short, literature is as the product of conventions and

a certain kind of attention. And there should be endless circle among the

author, literary works, and the readers or audiences. Usually, the analysis

of literature can be external or internal. It tends to be external if the

analysis focuses on the relationship between literary works and the readers

or the audiences such as : (1) Sociological and historical, it examines the

literature’s social influence or historical relevance; the relationship in

general between the literary works and the world in which the work was

conceived or is being read, (2) Rhetorical, it is concerned with the

persuasive strategies within the literary works and with the effect the work

has on its audiences, (3) Biographical, it examines the relationship

between the author’s life and the literature the author creates, (4)

Mythophoic, it examines the literature in relation to mythological motifs

and patterns, ( 5) Psychoanalytic, it examines the literature in relation to

the psychological ramifications of the characters and their relationship

with one another , or the motivational influences of the writer, and (6)

Modal, it attempts to explain the relationship between authors and their

works. Whether internal when the analysis focuses on the literary work

itself such as : (1) Formalistic or New Criticism, it studies the work in and

of itself, the images, the figures, the structure without reference to the

world in which it exists, its effects on its readers or its relationship to the
 author and his life, (2) Dramatistic, it studies the work as though it were a

minidrama. It answers the questions : who is speaking?, to whom is the

persona speaking?, what, where, when, how, and why is the person

speaking?

1.2 The Nature of Literature.

Literature is different from any other writings, it has its own nature.

According to Jonathan Culler, at least , there are three characteristics of

literature namely : (1) literature is as the foregrounding of language.

Literariness is often said to lie above all in the organization of language

that makes literature distinguishable from language used for other

purposes. Literature is language that foregrounds language itself that is to

make it strange, thrusts it at you (2) literature is as the integration of

language. Literature is language in which the various elements and

components of the text are brought into a complex relation. In literature,

there are relations of reinforcement or contrast and dissonance – between

the structure of different linguistic levels; between sound and meaning;

between grammatical organization and thematic patterns. In literature, the

readers are more likely to look for and exploit relations between form and

meaning or theme and grammar and, attempting to understand the

contribution each element that cause the effects of the whole, find

integration, harmony, tension, or dissonance. To study something as

literature, is to look above all at the organization of its language, not to

read it as the expression of its author’s psyche or as the reflection of the

society that produced it (3) literature is as fiction. The utterances of

literature have a special relation to the world that is a relation that is called
 as fictional. Literary work is s linguistic event which projects a fictional

world that includes speaker, actor, events, and an implied audience that is

the audience that takes shape through the works’s decisious about what

must be explained and what the audience should know.

While other scholars believe that there are at least three specific things

owned by literature that make them different from other writings , those

are : (1) art, literature should provide its readers or audiences the art, that is

something related to beauty. That is the beauty produced by sounds, rhyme

, rhythm, message, the sequence of events, setting or any others (2) the

beauty that is expressed through the medium of language. The language of

literature is different from the language used by people in everyday life.

The language of literature refers to the secondary modeling system that is

the language which tends to have connotative meaning and show figurative

language ( 3) the object of literature is commonly about the fact, and the

fact in fiction is different from the fact in realities.

1.3 Answer the following questions carefully!

1. In your own sentences, what do you know about literature?

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2. Why should you study literature?

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 3. What are the nature of literature?

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4. Analyzing literature can be done externally and internally. Explain it

clearly!

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REFERENCES :

1. Culler, Jonathan.

2. ……………. 1999. Encarta World English Dictionary

3. Wellek, Renney and Austin.

4. Holman, Hugh. C. 1970. A Handbook to Literature. Indianapolis : The Odyssey Press.

5. Yordon, Yudy E. 1982. Roles in Interpretation. Iowa: Wm C. Brown Company

Publishers.