DJILLALI LIABES UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF LETTERS, ARTS AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES

INSTRUCTOR: BERRARBI AMINA
AN INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE

1. DEFINING CONCEPTS
According to Oxford Advanced learners dictionary:
➢ ‘a piece of writing that are valued as works of art, especially novels , plays and poems’
• Merriam Webster's

➢ ‘the body of written works produced in a particular language, country, or age on a

particular subject ‘
➢ The etymology of the English word "literature" is that it is derived from the Latin
word lit(t)eratura, which means "learning, writing, grammar" (Online Etymology
Dictionary online at Dictionary.com).

Literature is any written work, and it can refer to an individual work itself or a categorical
understanding of literature (such as American literature, for example). More academic
understandings of literature focus on works such as novels, essays, poetry, and drama. In
general, literature:
• mirrors reality: it reflects the eternal, the human condition, the myth, romance, comedy,
and tragedy that appeal to audiences across time and place

• Uses authorial control to achieve an end, theme, or enlightenment.

• Uses elevated language to draw attention to it.

• Its authors are morally and ethically trustworthy.

• Its authors and characters are better than us: they are artistically drawn from humanity, but they
stand out in terms of their own passion, logic, or ethics.

• uses metaphor and irony (or similar figurative language) to draw analogies or dichotomies
between ideas and characters.
 2. WHY DO WE NEED TO STUDY LITERATURE?

Literature is a way to hear the voices of the past and work with the present. It is a way for the
present to connect to the possible future. Story telling is one way for humans to reach out to
other humans. It is therapy, confession, entertainment, and knowledge all in one. Why do we
study it?

➢ Students learn about history we didn't experience, customs they are not familiar with or
that lead to what they do and perform now, hear voices of men, women, children, and
other characters in order to spark imagination.
➢ They learn to think outside the literal box by reading. It forces your mind to picture
places and experiences and activates their critical thinking, which is crucial next to just
spitting back information.
➢ They can also relate to a character, real or fictional, that may have or is going through
an experience like us. Or who is going through an experience that they would like to
have.
➢ Through reading, students are able to improve their language command by learning new
vocabulary and syntactic structures.

3. LITERATURE KINDS :

LITERATURE KINDS

Fictional Non fictional

-Imaginary composed
writing .
-Factual writing
-Provide information,
Facts , real places,
entertainment .
events , characters.
-Imagination rather
-Reality rather than
than reality .
imagination.
Plays, poems, short
Biographies , diaries,
stories, novels, oral
journals...
literature and songs.

4. LITERARY GENRES :

Prose fiction: romances, novels, short stories. Prose is distinguished from poetry because
of its complete lack of any metrical structure and variety of rhythm and has a closer relation
to everyday speech.
Poetry: relies on imaginary and figurative language. The term poetry is hard to define but
we can say that poetry is an imaginative awareness of experience, expressed through
meaning, sound, and rhythmic language that evokes an emotional response.

Drama: it is made up of dialogues and set directions, written to be performed.

Poetry Prose Drama

(poet) Lines /Verses (Author ) Playwright

Stanza/Sonnet Biographic /Epic
14lines)

5. ELEMENTS OF LITERATURE :
➢ Plot and structure: reflection of motivation and causation. The events that occur in the
story. It refers to action, series of events and the body of the literary work.
➢ Characters :
a) Protagonist: central or principal character in the story.
b) Antagonist: principal rival in the conflict.
➢ Atmosphere: it is generally created by the author and it contributes to the meaning of
the story. An atmosphere can be described as dark, gloomy, rainy, silent, crowded …etc.
➢ Symbolism: there are conventional symbols that are used by many writers and that are
known to almost all people. The dove: a symbol of peace. As there are private symbols
used by one writer in one work of literature. Symbols allow different interpretations.
➢ Narrator’s point of view :
➢ First person of view (uses pronouns: I, me, mine, our). Here the narrator is the
main character who tells his own story.
➢ Third person point of view: (uses personal pronouns: he, she,it,they,etc). This
narrator is an outside narrator. He can be objective without entering the thoughts
of characters. Limited who can see into the mind of only one character and
omniscient who can relate the thoughts of all characters.
➢ Irony: the simple definition of irony entails saying something and meaning just the
opposite of what is said. The whole story of parts of it can be ironic.
➢ Themes: it refers to the message that the writer aims at conveying to us.