21ST CENTURY LITERATURE REVIEWER Q2

Reading Approaches

READING- a skill that pertain to a person's capacity to decode, comprehend, and interpret written language
and texts

SKIMMING - quickly reading a text to get the summary of it

• to take a quick glance’
• This technique is generally used while reading newspaper, mails and messages.
• to grasp the main idea, overview or summary of the reading material correctly and clearly.
• read in a limited amount of time.

SCANNING - a technique in reading when you are seeking specific information

• to look for something; selective reading method.
• seeking specific information rather than reading for comprehension

EXTENSIVE - the purpose of this is to read for fun, entertainment and pleasure
• without concerning with the meaning of unknown words.

INTENSIVE - It requires a high level of focus and deliberate effort.

• The main focus of the learner is on the language used, rather than the text.

APPROACH - a way of dealing with something

ASIAN LITERATURE - This refers to the literature of the people from China, Japan, India and other small
nations surrounding them.

Formalist Approach
Reading as a Formalist critic Do’s:
• Must first be a close or careful reader who examines all the elements of a text individually
• Allow the text to reveal itself
• The text is a self-contained entity
• Analyze how the elements work together to form unity of form.

Moral Criticism
Moralist Criticism is a type of literary critique that judges the value of the literature based on its morals, lessons
or ethical teachings.

Plato argues that literature has the ability to influence people.

Major Tenets of Moralist Criticism

• Investigates the effects literature has on readers as moral beings
• Based on what improves and enriches human lives
• Concerned with human character and behavior
• Looks at texts as combinations of various moral qualities
• Views the work through a particular philosophy or discerns a work in the “philosophy” on which it is based
 
Aspects of Moralist Criticism
1. Literature that is ethically sound is praised. 
2. Literature that misguides and/or corrupts is condemned.

Reader's Response

Text is just an ink on a page until a reader comes along and gives it life. – Louise Rosenblatt
Text + reader = meaning
“NO TWO PERSONS EVER READ THE SAME BOOK.” –Edmund Wilson

The intentions of the writer are irrelevant since the text can have multiple meanings that shifts over
time. Interpretations are valid as long as the reader can provide evidence in the text

BASIC TENETS OF READER RESPONSE

• The text remains incomplete without the reader. He/she is active in giving meaning to the text.
• It is subjective because it considers the reader’s personality and the ways he contributes to the making of the
text.
• Meaning is partly the result of the reader’s interaction with and interpretation of the text.
• Reading reveals more about the reader’s personality than about the text.
Post Colonialism Approach
Post-colonialism examines literature as responses to colonial subjugation of European/ Western to Third and
Fourth World countries that emerged in 70’s

Colonizers
a country that sends settlers to a place and establishes political control over it

Colonized
a country or people controlled by the colonizers

Slavery
a person who is owned by another person and is forced to work for and obey them

Prejudice 
an unfair feeling of dislike for a person or group because of race, sex, religion, etc

Subjection
the action of subjecting a country or person to one's control

Justice 
the fair treatment of people

Othering
Practice of judging all who are different as inferior.
• It divides the world between ”us” the ”civilized” and
“them”- the ”others” – the “savages”

Orientalism
• Its purpose is to produce a positive national self-definition for Western nations by contrast with Eastern
Nations.
• Asian or Middle Eastern : cruel, sneaky, evil, cunning
• Citizens of the West: kind, straight- forward, good, upright

Colonial Subjects
• Colonized persons who did not resist colonial subjugation because they were taught to believe in British
superiority and therefore in their own superiority.
  
 Double Consciousness/ Double Vision
• African natives are torn between two opposing forces.
• A consciousness that the world is divided between two antagonist cultures (the colonizer and the indigenous
community)

Unhomeliness
•Feeling not at home even in your own home because you are not at home in yourself
• Your cultural identity crisis has made you a psychological refugee.

Hybridity
• The fusion of two traditions to which creates new trans-cultural elements that
produce a double identity that contradicted as a colonizer and colonized at the same time.
  
 Mimicry
• The copying of the colonizing culture, behavior and manners, and values by the colonized.
• In literature, mimicry is a concept of imitating colonizers behaviors intended to mock which can appear as a
parody.

Post-Colonial (post-independence)
The era after independence when the colonizers had left the country

METHODS OF ANALYSIS
• HISTORICAL ASPECT 
Trace the history of colonialism & subjugation

•PHYSICAL & PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT

Oppression and intimidation that makes the colonized feel weak and submissive

• IDEOLOGICAL ASPECT
In whose perspective it is narrated?

• GENDER ASPECT
Man as a colonizer?
Woman as colonized?
• CULTURAL ASPECT 
Domination of culture

Reject claims of universalism

• A Eurocentric view that European civilization and values are the standards for all humanity.
• A strategy of colonialism by saying the ”universal” features of humanity are the characteristics of those who
occupy positions to political dominance.

Speculative Fiction
REALISTIC FICTION
SPECULATIVE FICTION

Realistic Fiction
consist of stories that could have actually occurred to fictional character in a believable setting

Speculative Fiction
Explores the “WHAT IF” of what is possible in the world
Involves a vision of the future or portrays supernatural

SUBGENRES 
SCIENCE FICTION
FANTASY
UTOPIAN
DYSTOPIAN
APOCALYPTIC
ALTERNATE HISTORY

SCIFI
Stories with imagined technologies that don’t exist in the real world, like time travel, aliens, and robots.

FANTASY
Stories that includes magic, the supernatural, mythical creatures; has no grounding on what is real (not based
on science)

UTOPIAN
Stories that present a world that is ideally perfect in all aspects of society.

DYSTOPIAN 
Stories that present the conditions of human life that are extremely bad such as deprivation or oppression or
terror.

CORPORATE CONTROL
BUREAUCRATIC CONTROL
TECHNOLOGICAL CONTROL
RELIGIOUS CONTROL

APOCALYPTIC 
The stories center around characters doing everything they can to stay alive— for example, running from
zombies or trying to avoid a deadly plague.

ALTERNATE HISTORY
 another place (a parallel universe) where the event or decision turned out differently.

Speculative Fiction reconnects us with wonder and spirituality. - G.K Chesteron

COMICS
Comics are example of fantasy genre in speculative fiction

COMICS- is a medium for expressing ideas through images, which are frequently combined with text or other
visual information. It usually takes the form of a series of image panels.

GRAPHIC NOVELS are a narrative series of cartoons. 

• a series of drawings that tells a story with a beginning, a middle and an end. 
• The pictures and words are interdependent and work together to convey meaning.
• adult audience contains adult themes
• serious or real content 
• deeper storylines
THEMES OF COMIC STRIPS
Reality- these comics are based on real facts and aim to critique, revise, or contextualize.

Humor- Humor fits shorter formats, as it requires quick comprehension to get to the punchline.

Fantasy - these comics explore fictional universes and talk about beings beyond humans and push the limits of
reality.

Autobiography - There are no strips or speech bubbles, and the text surrounds the illustration

Politics- short format and mixed with humor.

STRUCTURAL FEATURES: 
PANELS 
• A panel is an individual frame, containing a combination of image and text. Most pages will contain
multiple panels and each panel depicts a single moment in time.

FRAMES 
• Frames are the lines and borders that contain the panels. They are usually rectangular in shape but
illustrators can use different sizes or shapes to draw attention or convey mood.

GUTTER
• The gutter is the space between the framed panels. As the reader moves across the gutter, they must
relate one panel to the next. Gutters contain the unseen story and the reader has to ‘fill in the gaps’ to
piece the story together.

SPLASH
• A splash is a kind of panel that spans the width of the page.
BLEED
• A bleed is when the images run outside the frame/panel to the edges of the page.

SHOT TYPES 

CLOSE-UP SHOT
• A subject's head takes up most of the panel. It is used to reveal emotion through facial expression.
shot types

MID SHOT
• A subject is seen from the waist up. It shows emotion through facial expression as well as body
language.

LONG SHOT
• A subject's entire body is seen as well as some of the setting. It shows their emotion through posture
and gesture

NARRATION BOX
• A narration box usually has a hard line separating the narrator’s speech at the top or bottom of a panel.
It can sometimes be a square floating box. This allows the narrator to speak directly to the reader.

SPEECH BUBBLES
• These are frames around the characters’ language and they present a kind of ‘direct speech’, where
the characters speak for themselves. They are usually shown through a bubble with a tail.
types:  
scream - character shouting
thought - thought of character
icicle - cold hostility 
coloured - convey emotion to enhance mood

LIGHTING & COLOUR

Lighting and colour may be used to show different moods. For example, bright colours and light are often used
to show a sense of fun and happiness, while dull colours and dim lighting may be used to show gloom and
sadness or to create tension or suspense.
 
ONOMATOPOEIA
The formation of a word to imitate the natural sound of something associated with it. These are famously used
in comics or graphic novels as a pictorial representation of a sound.
    
SETTING
The time and location depicted in the background of a panel can give information or help convey mood or
atmosphere.
    
EMANATA
   This term refers to the teardrops, sweat drops, question marks, or motion lines that portray a characters’
emotions or movement.
      
OBJECTS
Objects can be important and meaningful. They can reveal information about a character, setting or theme.

 BODY LANGUAGE

FACIAL EXPRESSION
A form of non-verbal communication using the movement of facial features such as eyes, cheeks & mouth.

GESTURE
The movement and positioning of the hands and arms to communicate or undertake action.
  
 POSTURE
The position in which someone holds their body. This nonverbal communication tells us about the person’s
mood.

GAZE
Where the person is looking and who or what the person is looking at. This can draw our focus towards
something.