21st CENTURY
WORLD LITERATURE
- Connection & Communication
- Global Context
- Sums Total of the world’s national
literature.
- circulation of work beyond country’s
origin.
- lit. that Gains Translation.
- inspire New Genres, enrich Local
Tongue’s Vocabulary through
Adaptations of new words, concepts,
meanings at diff. time & places.
1. Part of local culture.
2. Influences Regional Culture.
3. Later becomes; part of the Global
community.
Moves: Local —> Regional —> Global
Lit. Sandard:
UNIVERSALITY
- works that are able to Adjust, Adopt
& Aquire meaning in diff. cultures
- Fitzgerald
Classic Examples of World Lit.:
ORATURE- (composed & transmitted
ORALLY before writing was introduced.)
- Poetry
- Stories
- Theatrical Pieces
- Songs
- Myths
- Legends
3 Ways of LOOKING at World Literature:
1. CLASSICS
- work of transcendent ; fundamental
value.
- talks about TIME (Long lasting).
- Value: Moral
Ex. Greek & Roman Literature
* the Aeneid by Vergil
* The odyssey by Homer
* Shakespear’s works & plays.
- Talks about important values such as
honour , courage & strength of
character.
2. MASTERPIECE
- outstanding achievement of an
artist.
- can be Old / Contemporary Works.
Ex. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott
Faust by Geotte
3. Multiple WINDOWS in the
WORLD
- serves as “WINDOWS” in foreign
worlds.
- gives glimpses of the World Outside
Our Own.
- You become someone else when you
go out.
 Ex. Narnia; Nutcracker; Alice in - formulates the Relationship between
the Wonderland Author & Work.
- develops the significance of race,
21st Century- can hardly be a Classics (
class & gender of literary study.
written in Contemporary times [Today].
- need the TEST OF TIME to be - trace the history & evolution of diff
genres (narratice, dramatic & etc.).
considered CLASSICS.
- What has been developed?
- can be. MASTERPIECE / MULTIPLE
Examples of Literary Theories:
WINDOWS TO THE WORLD.
A. FEMINISM
Reading World Literature:

- helps us to be more EMPATHETIC. - Feminist Criticism

- Oppression of Women (economic,
- They can feel what it was like... political, social, psychological)
- Settings & Characters might be diff. - Marginalization
& unfamiliar. (Readers can find - misogyny- hatred to women.
Commonalities of Human
Experiences & find out we are all The
Same.)

21st CENTURY LIT B. POST-COLONIAL

- considered as World Lit. but not
Classic.
- helps us to be more EMPATHETIC:
- authors are Euro=centric hegemony,
being able to feel what the author
feels.
Ex. Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
(gives interpretation of Homer’s The
Odyssey)
“21st Century Lit can be understood
through Literary Theories.”
LITERARY THEORIES:
- body of ideas.
- theory that reveal what Literature
can mean.
- produced by those who were
colonized.
C. HISTORIOGRAPHIC METAFICTION
- rejecting present beliefs & standard
on the past.
- Combined parody of past works.
Historical Fiction
- a story set in the past, often during
a significant time period.
Metafiction
- parody
 - fiction that is from another fiction. - dangerous mix of divine power &
Ex. Maleficent human insecurity, prone to jealousy
& grudges.

D. WORLD ENGLISHES XENIA

- ancient code of Hospitality.
- english as a medium of expression - Hosts provides Guests: Safety, Food
from diff. countries. & Comfort.

WORLD HISTORY LIT.: Today’s World : HISTORY & LITERATURE

- in ancient time they are considered
to be 2 parts of a whole.
- World history that...
THE ODYSSEY & THE ILIAD by Homer:
- contains historical aspects.
- time of Homer believed the myths to
be true.
- part of Greek Oral History.
have a small GAP
: separate discipline
Ancient World: two parts of a whole
:the same
: a way to interpret the world in two
different ways.
Note: The Odyssey and Iliad by Homer -
considered as part of Greek oral History.
“A LOW ART” an Excerpt from
Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood:

Vocabulary:
ODYSSEY • Factoid - briefly stated; trivial fact
- made for LISTENERS rather than
READERS. • Eminent - “Superior” exhibiting
- Troy Story II eminence; standing above others in
- Composed of 24 Books & 24,000 Line some quality / position.
Poems
• Compulsion - irresistible persistent
Performed by RHAPSODES “Stitching impulse to perform an act; can’t
Together (Oral Poets) control.

HOMER • Edifying - enlightening / inspiring

- blind author
• Inklings - slight knowledge / vague
GREEK PANTHEON notion. (*gamay na idea)
 • Unscrupulous - immoral 2nd Part:
- Penelope as role model for all
• Minstrel - class of medieval musical women.
entertainers.
3rd Part:
• Preposterous - absurd - Penelope didn’t question his
husband’s actions.
Characters:
4th Part:
• Odysseus - King; Wise; Brave;
Arrogant
- Low Art (chismis sang mga hisaon)
- 10 Years after Trojan War 5th Part:
- 7 Years = stuck sa Island. - Spin thread of my own = Penelope
- 20 years = wala ka puli sa Ithaca. will tell her own story.

• Penelope - faithful wife. MEXICO:

- Spaniards colonized Mexico.
• Telemachus - son of Odyssseus & Language Barrier ruins communication
Penelope
was a problem before.

• Athena - helped Odysseus We employ translators to avoid

miscommunication & war.
• Poseidon - cursed his trip Great Civilizations that RULED Mexico:
behave & dress like Indians
• Circe - turned into pic • Mayan
• Olmec
• Calypso - Immortal goddess
• Toltec
Pillows • Aztec
Lastrigonean
Aeaen
“LA MINCHE” by Laura Esquivel (2006)
Underworld Name:
Aeae
I. Malinal - noble born
Syrin II. Malintzin - put into slavery
III. The Tongue - learned a lot of
1st Part:
languages
- Manipulator (making fool of people) IV. Doña Marina - became a translator
V. La Malinche - she became a traitor

Vocabulary:
• Resonant - echoing
• Enormous - large, immeasurable great
space
• Abyss - deep / bottomless
• Cosmos - universe seen as a well-
ordered whole
“Words have energy and power with the
ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt,
to harm, to humiliate and to humble
“THE GOOD BODY LANGUAGE” by Eve
Ensler
Vocabulary:
• Vanquish - to defeat thoroughly.
• Purge - free someone (from unwanted
feeling, memory / condition)
• Testosterone - steroid hormone that
stimulates development of male
secondary sexual characteristics,
produced mainly in the testes.
Hahahahaha
• Neurosis - (in non technical use)
excessive & irrational anxiety/
obsession.
• Omnipresent - widely / constantly
encountered; common / widespread.
• Scone - small unsweetened/ lightly
sweetened biscuit-like cake.
• Flabby - (of a part of a persons’s body)
soft, loose & fleshy.
• Contaminated - make (something)
impure by exposure to / addition of a
poisonous / polluting substance.
My body will be mine when I’m thin. I will
eat a little at a time, small bites. I will
vanquish ice cream. I will purge with
green juices. I will see chocolate a poison
and pasta as a form of self- punishment. I
will work not to feel full again. Always
moving toward full, approaching full but
never really full. I will embrace my
emptiness, I will ride into holy zones. Let
me be hungry. Let me starve. Please.
Bread is Satan. I stop eating bread. This is
the same as not eating food. Four days in,
a scrawny actress friend tells me, “Eve,
your stomach has nothing to do with
diet.” What? “It’s the change of life,” she
says. “All you need is some testosterone.”
I try to imagine what I would be like,
totally bread deprived and shot up with
testosterone. “Serial killer” comes to
mind.
I’m walking down a New York City street,
and I catch a glimpse of this blond,
pointy- breasted, raisin-a-day stomached
smiling girl on the cover of Cosmo
magazine. She is there every minute,
somewhere in the world, smiling down
on me, on all of us. She’s omnipresent.
She’s the American Dream, my personal
nightmare.
Pumped straight from the publishing
powerplant into the bloodstream of our
culture and neurosis. She is multiplying
on every corner. She was passed through
my mother’s milk and so I don’t even
know that I’m contaminated.
Don’t get me wrong. I pick up the
magazine. No, no, no. It’s the possibility
of being skinny good that keeps me
buying. I discover a Starbucks maple
walnut scone expanding in me, creeping
out. Flabby age leaking through the
cracks. Big Macs, French fries, Pizza Land,
four helpings, can’t stop. My stomach is
America. I want to drown in the cement.
Obviously I’m missing something. Maybe
if I go find the woman who thought this
up, she’ll reveal the secret.
“Diary of a teenage refugee” by Amira
- Spring of 2011.
* protests erupted in the Middle Eastern
country of Syria against President
Bashar Al-Assad’s government
— lead to violence and rebellion.
* NOW: Syria is experiencing a Civil War
- 400,000 dead
- 4.8 million refugees left their country.
- 6.3 million had to flee their homes.
* Millions left in poor living conditions;
shortages of food & drinking water.
- from 16 yrs. old Syrian girl named
Amira.
(detailing the past three years of her life
in a refugee camp in the neighboring
country of Lebanon.)
Terms:
1. UN- United Nations
- organization of 193 countries formed
after World War II to prevent
international conflict and promote world
peace.
2. WhatsApp
- mobile messaging app.
3. Latrine
- toilet or outhouse,
- used by large groups in a camp.
4. NGO
- stands for non-governmental
organization,”
- any not-for-profit citizens' group that
is organized on a local, national, or
international level.
“Diary of a teenage refugee.”
One night the bombs were coming closer
and closer. We were all sitting together
downstairs because we couldn’t sleep. As
houses were being destroyed one by one
in our village, neighbours were running
from one house to the next. So some
neighbours were gathered in our house
too.
A rocket landed on the roof of our house,
but no one was injured. We ran in fear to
another house. We were so terrified we
didn’t even think about taking anything
with us. Soon after, our house was totally
destroyed. We left with no IDs, nothing.
Our dad took us out of the country
through a smuggler. We escaped that
night in a rented car. Whenever we
passed a checkpoint, we hid under the
seats of the car and the driver covered us
up.
We crossed the border illegally, through
the mountains. We got out near the
border and had to walk about 100 metres
across the mountain. When we heard a
plane, we started running. We were very
scared.
When we arrived at the refugee camp,
there were already many tents. We
bought some materials to make a tent—
some wood and plastic sheeting. The
men built it. Our tent has two rooms and
a kitchen area. There are 13 of us living
here.
The neighbours helped us by giving us
things like bottled water, mattresses,
blankets, cups and plates. We could pick
up and leave at any time, as we don’t
have anything of value here. My most
treasured things are my necklaces. I wear
them all at the same time, because they
have many memories. One was given to
me by a boyfriend, but I don’t want my
mother to know about that.
We have so many needs that you can’t
count them. At home things were cheap.
Everything is expensive here. We even
have to pay for water. In winter there
was snow halfway up the sides of our
tent and we couldn’t even see out of it.
At home we had our own bedrooms, but
here we all sleep together in the tent on
the ground.
We can’t go to school here, and there are
no jobs available because too many
people are looking for work. We don’t
even have any books. So we just help out
with cooking and cleaning, or watch TV
all day. We are really bored.
To pass the time we do each other’s hair
and draw pictures of each other, or listen
to popular songs on the TV. We also
make our own clothes.
We are afraid because the government
doesn’t know we are here. If they find
out, we could be sent back to Syria. But
the UN protects us.
Some of the people who are not
registered go into the mountains and
hide whenever the officials come to
count people in the camp. Then they
come back to the camp afterwards.
We hear from home mostly via
WhatsApp and sometimes TV. Only a few
old people are still living in our village.
There are a few rooms still standing in
the destroyed houses, and they live in
those.
We have to pay for water to be brought
in by truck, but it’s very dirty. But now we
have a water filter in our tent. We now
have a latrine that was installed by an
NGO. We receive food distributions, so
we have enough food. We make large
amounts of simple meals that we can
share out easily for all the children, like
rice, beans and peas. There are shops,
hairdressers and tailors here.
It helps to know that we are not alone, as
there are many others here in the same
situation as us.
We’ve been here for three years now. We
miss everything about home. We would
love to go back.