Society and Literature

Unit 1
Introduction to
Society and Literature
WHAT IS SOCIETY?
WHAT IS SOCIETY?

▪ The term society is derived from the Latin word socius which means companionship or
friendship.

▪ “Society is the union itself, the organization, the sum of formal relations in which
associating individuals are bound together.”
- Prof. Giddings
▪ ”Society is the complex of organized associations and institutions with a
community”.
- G.D.M. Cole
NATURE OF SOCIETY
▪ Society consists of People

▪ Mutual awareness and Mutual Interaction

▪ Cooperation and Division of Labour

▪ Society is Dynamic

▪ Social Control
WHAT IS CULTURE?
WHAT IS CULTURE?

▪ Culture is a complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, laws,
customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by human as a member of
society.

▪ Culture is a total system of customs, beliefs, knowledge, laws, means of expression, and
so forth.

▪ Culture is the continuation of generations

▪ Culture has something to do with value systems that construct social and personal
behavior.
What do you think of the
world now? How do you
see the society now?
 What made you think of those? Were your
responses influenced by a person? a thing? or an
event?
 Everything happening in the world now is known by record of
events. History is traced from the significant events that we read in
most books. Wars... Calamities... Freedom or Independence...
Success...
 01

The Birth of Literature

What is Literature?
 The profession of an author;
production of writings, esp. of
The body of written works of imaginative prose, verse, etc.
a language, period, or culture.

What is Literature?
The art or occupation of a Imaginative or creative
literary writer. writing, especially of
recognized artistic value.
What is Literature?

Etymologically: the Latin word “literatura” is derived from

“littera” (letter), which is the smallest element of
alphabetical writing.

The word text is related to “textile” and can be translated as

“fabric”: just as single threads form a fabric, so words and
sentences form a meaningful and coherent text.
Literature or text as cultural and
historical phenomena and to
investigate the conditions of their
production and reception.
Prehistoric painting in the cave wall
The Beginning of Literature

Before writing developed as a system of signs, whether pictographs or alphabets, “texts”

were passed on orally. The predecessor of literary expression, called “oral poetry, ” In
21st century, Audio-literature and the lyrics of songs display the acoustic features of
literary phenomena through the medium of radio and other sound carriers.

In the Middle Ages the visual component of writing was highly privileged in such forms as
richly decorated handwritten manuscripts, the arrival of the modern age - along with
the invention of the printing press- made the visual element disappear or reduced it
to a few illustrations in the text.
The Beginning of Literature

Only in DRAMA - union between the spoken word and visual

expression DRAMA, which is viewed as literature, combines
the acoustic and the visual elements. The symbiosis of
word and image culminates in FILM.

FILM is interesting for textual studies, since word and picture

are recorded and, as in a book, can be looked up at any
time. Methods of literary and textual criticism are,
therefore, frequently applied to the cinema and acoustic
media.
The Beginning of Literature

Computer hypertexts and networks/ the Internet are the latest

hybrids of the textual and various media writing is linked to
sounds, pictures or even video clips within an
interdependent network. The written medium is obviously
the main concern in the study of literature or texts the
stage, painting, film, music or even computer network
Genre
A Genre is a French word meaning “type” or “kind” of literature.
Genre

The genres of literature are poetry, drama, fiction

(short story, non-fiction, and novel) and film.
Prose

Prose is straight writing in paragraph form (e.g.

newspaper, novels, magazines).
Poetry

Poetry is a particular arrangement of words on a

page for heightened emotional effect.
All writing falls into one of these two
categories: Fiction & Non-fiction
Fiction

Fiction is not true. It is drawn from the

imagination of the author.
Nonfiction

Nonfiction is true. It is based on real events

or facts.
LITERARY
GENRES
Ancient: Fables, Tales

● Not Realistic
● No details
● Quick and simple plots
● Nonhuman characters
● They aim at a quick and simple moral (lesson)
Epics

● usually operate on a large scale, both in length and topic,

such as the founding of a nation (Virgil’s Aeneid) or the
beginning of world history (Milton's Paradise Lost), they
tend to use an elevated style of language and supernatural
beings take part in the action.
Novels & Short Stories

● Verisimilitude: Realistic (life-like) presentation of events

● Real (human characters)
● Minute details
● Not reality but an illusion of reality
● Modern fiction is the genre of the Middle Class. The Industrial
Revolution created the Middle Class and the novel became the
new form of literature which represented the difficulties
encountering Middle Class people.
Science Fiction and Mystery

● Science Fiction is a story based on impact of potential

science, either actual or imagined. Science fiction is one of
the genres of literature that is set in the future or on other
planets.

● Mystery is a genre of fiction that deals with the solution of

a crime or the unraveling of secrets. Anything that is kept
secret or remains unexplained or unknown.
Novel

● Novel is a long prose narrative that usually describes fictional characters

and events in the form of a sequential story. It rests on the consensus that
the novel is today the longest genre of narrative prose, followed by the
novelette and the short story. However, there is no consensus as to the
minimal required length. In part because of this wide variation, the
boundary between a novella and a novel may be arbitrary and difficult to
determine.
Science Fiction and Mystery

● Science Fiction is a story based on impact of potential

science, either actual or imagined. Science fiction is one of
the genres of literature that is set in the future or on other
planets.

● Mystery is a genre of fiction that deals with the solution of

a crime or the unraveling of secrets. Anything that is kept
secret or remains unexplained or unknown.
Novels & Short Stories

● Verisimilitude: Realistic (life-like) presentation of events

● Real (human characters)
● Minute details
● Not reality but an illusion of reality
● Modern fiction is the genre of the Middle Class. The Industrial
Revolution created the Middle Class and the novel became the
new form of literature which represented the difficulties
encountering Middle Class people.
History, Biography/Autobiography & Fiction

● History: an objective presentation of reality

● Biography/Autobiography: a subjective
presentation of reality.

● Fiction: An illusion of reality.

 Folklore, Legend, Mythology

● Folklore are songs, stories, myths, and proverbs of a person of “folk” that was
handed down by word of mouth. Folklore is a genre of literature that is widely held,
but false and based on unsubstantiated beliefs.
● Legend is a story that sometimes of a national or folk hero. Legend is based on fact
but also includes imaginative material.
● Mythology is a type of legend or traditional narrative. This is often based in part on
historical events, that reveals human behavior and natural phenomena by its
symbolism; often pertaining to the actions of the gods. A body of myths, as that of a
particular people or that relating to a particular person.