BRITISH LITERATURE

Part 1 - Introduction
First – Let’s get to know the course
1. Look through your course syllabus

2. Work in groups and tell me:

 What do you think you will learn in this course?

 What do you think about literature?

 How can we make it an interesting course?

What is Literature?
• Literature: "writing formed with letters", although
some definitions include spoken or sung texts.

• Broadly speaking, "literature" is used to describe

anything from creative writing to more technical
or scientific works, but the term is most commonly
used to refer to works of the creative imagination.
 Fiction vs Non-fiction
(imagination or facts/reality)
• Fiction: stories of people, places, events, and/or
complete narrative works derived from imagination,
in addition to, or rather than, from history or fact
(including the novel, short story, play, and narrative
poem).

• Non-fiction: prose dealing with or offering opinions

or conjectures upon facts and reality such as
newspaper stories, editorials, journal articles,
textbooks, legal documents.
The Functions of Literature
• A report/picture of society and history => What
happens in a particular society at a particular time?

• Entertainment => Writing and reading

• Self-expression and reflection => expressing through

language, and literature, stimulating imagination of
one’s feelings, thoughts, life events, and ultimate
values.
Choose one of the topics below
• Name the best book, movie, play, or poem you have
ever read or seen (either in English or Vietnamese)
that affected you deeply and even changed your life
in some way. How did it affect you? Why?
• It is said that everyone has at least one great story
in them--something so full of difficulty, pain, love,
heartbreak, or other deep feelings and experiences.
What is your greatest story?
Next class: How to Read Literature

• Is there only one way to understand literary work?

• What factors can affect your interpretation of

literary work?
• How do we analyse/evaluate literature?