CREATIVE WRITING

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF LITERATURE

"In this increasingly technologically dependent world,

literature is an antidote to the mechanization of life.
It is celebration of the gift of the creative imagination
and the power of linguistic expression."

(... 2nd Ateneo National Conference On Literature, 2004)

ESSENCE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF LITERATURE

1. Literature (origin of term-litera which means letter) deals with ideas, thoughts and emotions of man- thus
it can be said the literature is the story of man. (Kahayon, 1998, p.5-7); Literature comes from the French
phrase "belles-letters" which means beautiful writing. (Baritugo, et al. 2004, p.1)

2. Literature in its broadest sense, is everything that has ever been written.

3. The best way to understand human nature fully and to know a nation completely is to study literature.
(Garcia, et al, 1993, p.3)

4. Through literature, we learn the innermost feelings and thoughts of people - the most real part of
themselves, thus we gain an understanding not only of others, but more importantly, of ourselves and of life
itself. (Garcia, et al, 1993, p.4)

5. Literature offers us an experience in which we should participate as we read and test what we read by our
own experience.

6. Literature does not yield much unless we bring something of ourselves to it.

7. Literature is a faithful production of life... in a sense it is a product and a commentary on life process

8. Literature illuminates life.

9. Literature is our life's story including its struggles, ideas, failures, sacrifices and happiness. (Ang, 2006)

10. Literature appeals to man's higher nature and its needs - emotional, spiritual, intellectual, and creative.
Like all other forms of art, literature entertains and gives pleasure; it fires the imagination and arouses noble
emotions and it enriches man by enabling him to reflect on life and by filling him with new ideas. (Garcia, et
al, 1993, pp. 1-3)
11. Literature is one of the seven arts (ie., music, dance, painting, sculpture, theatre and architecture) and as
such, literature is a creative product of a creative work, the result of which is form and beauty. ( Nuggets,
2004, p.2)

12. Why do people read literature?

For information, for amusement, for higher and keener pleasure, for cultural Yupliftment and for discovery of
broader dimensions in life. . Nuggets, 2004, p.2-3)

13. The ability to judge of literature is based on the application of certain recognizable standards of good
literature. Great literature is distinguishable of the following qualities (Garcia, 1993, p. 3)

Artistry (quality which appeals to our sense of beauty.)

Intellectual Value (A literary work stimulates thought enriches our mental life by making us realize
fundamental truths about life and human nature) Suggestiveness (This is the quality associated with the
emotional power of literature, such that it should move us deeply and stir our creative imagination, giving
and evoking vision above and beyond the plane of ordinary life and experience.)
Spiritual Value (A good literature elevates the spirit by bringing out moral values which makes us better
persons - this capacity to inspire is part of the spiritual value of literature.

Permanence (A great work of literature endures - it can be read again and again as each reading gives fresh
delight and new insights and open new worlds of meaning and experience.)

Universality (Great literature is timeless and timely - forever relevant in terms of its theme and conditions.)

14. A literary text can be studied in several ways: (Garcia, 1993, p. 4)

for its thematic value, for entertainment value, for the richness of its plot, for comparison with other works,
for the ideas it contains, for its emotional power, for character analysis, as an appeal to move readers to
action, for social reforms, for its representations of literary movements and techniques, for the author's
unique use of language (style) and most importantly for its reflection of life itself

15. All literature falls under two main divisions: (Nuggets, 2004, p.8)

PROSE POETRY
FORM Written in paragraph form Written in stanza or verse form
LANGUAGE Expressed in ordinary language Expressed in metrical, rhythmical,
and figurative language
APPEAL To the intellect To the emotion
AIM To convince, inform , istruct, imitate and Stir the imagination and set an
reflect ideal of how life should be
NATURE OF LITERATURE
Literature can be defined as an expression of human feelings, thoughts, and ideas whose medium is language,
oral and written. Literature is not only about human ideas, thoughts, and feelings but also about experiences
of the authors.

There are many ways to define the term 'literature' based on different point of views such as literature is art,
literature is language, literature is aesthetic, literature is fictional, literature is expressive, and literature is
affective.

The language that is used by literature differs from ordinary spoken or written language. Literature uses
special words, structures, and characteristics. Primarily the language of literature differs from ordinary
language in three ways: (1) language is concentrated and meaningful, (2) its purpose is not simply to explain,
argue, or make a point but rather to give a sense of pleasure in the discovery of a new experience, and (3) it
demands intense concentration from the readers. It indicates that the language of literature has originality,
quality, creativity, and pleasure.

Literature encompasses both written and oral forms.

✓ Written Literature includes novels, poems, plays, essays, short stories, and other written works. This
is the more traditional form of literature that people commonly associate with the term.
✓ Oral Literature refers to stories, poems, songs, and other forms of verbal expression that are passed
down through generations by word of mouth. This includes folktales, legends, myths, proverbs, and
oral poetry. Oral literature is especially significant in cultures with strong storytelling traditions and
was the primary way of preserving stories before the advent of writing.

Literary Genre
A genre is a type. The basic types of literature are fiction, non-fiction, poetry and drama. But within those
there are sub-types:

Fiction: novel, short story

Non-fiction: essay, editorial, news story, feature story,

Poetry: verse, narrative poetry, epic poetry, free verse, and many more

Drama: classical, tragedy, comedy

In addition to the genre above, we will consider anything written and published to be literature. So a web
page is literature. A VCR manual is literature. An ad in a magazine is a type of literature.

Writing has various purposes. Four main purposes of writing are to inform, persuade, entertain, & describe.

These purposes are generally integrated. In other words, a short story can achieve all four purposes. In fact, it
may be a poor short story if it doesn't. A VCR manual is not as extensive in A VCR manual is there to inform,
to tell the VCR user how to operate the machine. purpose. It may also describe some aspects of the machine or
operation, but probably doesn't persuade, and most likely doesn't entertain.
 Appendix E
LITERARY THEORIES AND CRITICISM: SOME PERSPECTIVES
(PNU Teacher's Guide, 2002)
Literary Theories and Criticism: Some Perspectives
1. Literary Theories

In "reading" and analyzing literature, literary theories are needed to support the reader in understanding the
texts.

Generally, literary critics clustered these theories or approaches into five groups. ( PNU Teachers Guide)
a. Mimetic Theory

based on the classical Aristotelian idea that literature imitates or reflects the real world or the world of ideal
concepts or things from which subject of literature is derived. The work and the world that imitates is how
others call this theory.

b. Authorial Theory - holds that the author is the sole source of meaning. One studies literature with one eye
set on literary text and another eye on the author's biography. The work in relation to its author insists on
very private expression of the writer's feelings, imagination, inspiration, and intention. Reader Response
Theory - is also called as effective or pragmatic theory. Some call this as the work and its readers. This theory
permits varied and numerous interpretations of the literary texts from as many readers.

c. Reader Response Theory- is also called as effective or pragmatic theory . Some call this as the work and its
readers. This theory permits varied and numerous interpretations of the literary texts from as many readers.

d. Literary Tradition Theory-relates the work to its literary history by identifying the tradition to which it
belongs.

e. Textual Analysis Theory - this theory is also known as the work as an entity in itself.

NOTE: In recent times, even though theories are considered important, earlier new criticisms and reader-response
theories, popular in the late period are less and less used in recent times... and the "NO THEORY" position of
latter-day critics, and like, are interesting fields of interrogation for students.

2. Literary Criticism - refers to the individual's way of reading a literary text.

▪ New Criticism or Formalist Criticisms (was considered new in the 1930's)

➢ seeks to make literary criticism a scientific study
➢ Insists that each literary work shows function as a harmonious possessing a universal
meaning, which suggests that there is only one "correct" way of reading.
➢ Meaning is revealed by "dissecting" the literary text, by examining the literary elements and
by determining how it contributed to the essential unity of the literary piece.
➢ Strength: calls for a careful and thorough reading of the text.
➢ Weakness: ignores the relationship of one story to another, the interconnection of literature,
the influence of society to literature, and the importance of the author's individualism.
➢ Denies the impact of the reader's personal experience.
➢
▪ Archetypal criticism is influenced by Carl Gustav Jung's belief in the collective unconscious of all the
people of the world.
➢ Identifies certain archetypes, which are simple repeated patterns or images of human
experience: the changing seasons, the cc;e of birth, death, rebirth and heroic quest.
➢ Depends heavily on symbols and patterns operating on a universal scale.
 ➢ Uses Northrop Frye's assertion that literature consists of variation on a great mythic theme
that contains the following elements:
1. The creation and life is a paradise: garden
2. A displacement from a paradise: alienation
3. A time trial and tribulation, usually a wandering: a journey
4. A self discovery as a result of the struggle: an epiphany
5. A return to paradise: either the original or a new improved one.

▪ Historicis-examines the culture and society from which literature is produced, and how thee influence
affect literature.
➢ Who is the author, where did he/ she come from, and what were his/her objectives in writing?
➢ How did the political events influences what the writer wrote?
➢ How did the predominant social customs of the time influence the writer's outlook?
➢ What is the predominant philosophy that influenced the work?
➢ Where there any special circumstances under which the work was written?
➢ Strength: enriches one's understanding of literature because a knowledge of the historical times in
which a piece is written.
➢ Weakness: overlooks the literary elements and structure as well as the author's individual
contribution.

▪ Marxist criticism has the longest history being a 20th century phenomenon. Argues that literature is a
product of real, social and economic existence Views literature to be ideologically determined, usually
of dominant social class.

➢ Insists that literature must be used to challenge class oppression.

➢ Use's Moa Tse Tung's ideas that literature must answer
➢ Whom to serve: The working people, the masses.
➢ How to serve: Awaken and arouse the masses and impel them to unite and struggle to change
their environment.
➢ Strength: provides functional cultural and political agenda of literature. Weakness: opens up
the possibility of prioritizing content over form, ideological criterion over artistic.

▪ Feminist criticism combines several critical methods while focusing on the questions on how gender
affects a literary work, writer, or reader.
➢ How are women portrayed in the work? As stereotypes? As individuals?
➢ How is the woman's point of view considered?
➢ Is the male superiority implied in the text?
➢ In what way is the work affected because it was written by a woman? Strength: enriches a
reading by showing awareness of the complexity of human interaction.
➢ Weakness: ultimately culturally criticism.
▪ Structuralism is based on the linguistic theories of Ferdinand Saussure and cultural theories of Claude
levi-Strauss
➢ Language is a well contained system of signs. (Saussure)
➢ Culture, like languages, could be viewed as system of signs and could be analyzed in terms of the
structural relations among their elements. (levi-Strauss)
➢ Views literary text as systems of interlocking signs which are arbitrary. Seeks to make explicit the
"grammar" (the rules and codes or system of organization).
➢ Uses the concept of binary oppositions (sign-signifier, parole-langue, performance-competence).
➢ Believes that a sign (something which stands to somebody for something) can never have a
definite meaning, because the meaning must be continuously qualified.
 ➢ Strength: allows intertextuality and links literary text to systems of signs that exist even before
the work is written.
➢ Weakness: denies author's individual c contribution.

▪ Deconstruction was initiated by Jacques Derrida in the late 1960's.

➢ Assumes that language refers only to itself rather than to an extratextual reality.
➢ Asserts multiple conflicting interpretations o a text.
➢ Bases interpretation on the philosophical, political or social implications of the use of language in
a text rather than on the author's intentions. Involves the questioning of the many hierarchical
oppositions (binary oppositions) in order to expose the bias of privilege terms.
➢ Takes apart the logic of language in which authors make their claims. Reveals how all texts
undermine themselves in that every text includes unconscious "traces" of other positions exactly
opposite to that which it sets out to uphold p
➢ Strength: debunks the idea of the arbitraries of the verbal sign and loosens up language from
concepts and referents.
➢ Weakness: views that the "meaning" of the text bears only accidental relationship to the author's
conscious intentions.

This is our fate,

You are a waterfall,
and I, a stream:
You will forever flow through me,
But I shall never contain you
And you will never wash me away.
Star-crossed

Ronald Baytan, Ph. D

1994, Ladlad