- Mimesis
Mimesis is a critical and philosophical term that carries a wide range of meanings, which include imitation, representation, mimicry, imitatio, receptivity, nonsensuous similarity, the act of resembling, the act of expression, and the presentation of the self.
In ancient Greece, mimesis was an idea that governed the creation of works of art, in particular, with correspondence to the physical world understood as a model for beauty,truth, and the good. Plato contrasted mimesis, or imitation, with diegesis, or narrative. After Plato, the meaning of mimesis eventually shifted toward a specifically literary function in ancient Greek society, and its use has changed and been reinterpreted many times since then.
In ancient Greece, mimesis was an idea that governed the creation of works of art, in particular, with correspondence to the physical world understood as a model for beauty,truth, and the good. Plato contrasted mimesis, or imitation, with diegesis, or narrative. After Plato, the meaning of mimesis eventually shifted toward a specifically literary function in ancient Greek society, and its use has changed and been reinterpreted many times since then.
- Didacticism
Didacticism is a philosophy that emphasizes instructional and informative qualities in literature and other types of art. The term has its origin in the Ancient Greek word διδακτικός (didaktikos), "related to education and teaching", and signified learning in a fascinating and intriguing manner.
Didactic art was meant both to entertain and to instruct. Didactic plays, for instance, were intended to convey a moral theme or other rich truth to the audience. An example of didactic writing is Alexander Pope's An Essay on Criticism (1711), which offers a range of advice about critics and criticism. |
Alexander Pope
- Ode on a Grecian Urn
"Ode on a Grecian Urn" is a poem written by the English Romantic poet John Keats in May 1819 and published anonymously in the January 1820, Number 15 issue of the magazine Annals of the Fine Arts.
Divided into five stanzas of ten lines each, the ode contains a narrator's discourse on a series of designs on a Grecian urn. The poem focuses on two scenes: one in which a lover eternally pursues a beloved without fulfilment, and another of villagers about to perform a sacrifice. The final lines of the poem declare that "beauty is truth, truth beauty,' – that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know", and literary critics have debated whether they increase or diminish the overall beauty of the poem. Critics have focused on other aspects of the poem, including the role of the narrator, the inspirational qualities of real-world objects, and the paradoxical relationship between the poem's world and reality.
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- Melville, Herman
Herman Melville was an American novelist, writer of short stories, and poet from the American Renaissance period. Best known for his sea adventure Typee and his whaling novel Moby-Dick, he was almost forgotten during the last thirty years of his life. Melville's writing draws on his experience at sea as a common sailor, exploration of literature and philosophy, and engagement in the contradictions of American society in a period of rapid change.
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Bartleby, the Scrivener
"Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street" (1853) is a short story by the American writer Herman Melville, first serialized anonymously in two parts in the November and December editions of Putnam's Magazine, and reprinted with minor textual alterations in his The Piazza Tales in 1856.
Dead letters! does it not sound like dead men? Conceive a man by nature and misfortune prone to a pallid hopelessness, can any business seem more fitting to heighten it than that of continually handling these dead letters, and assorting them for the flames?
Sometimes from out the folder paper the pale clerk takes a ring—the finger it was meant for, perhaps, moulders in the grave; a bank- note sent in swiftest charity—he whom it would relieve, nor eats nor hungers any more…on errands of life, these letters speed to death. Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity! |
These are the last lines of "Bartleby the Scrivener." The narrator (the Lawyer) has heard a rumor that Bartleby once worked in the Dead Letter section of a post office. For the Lawyer, these dead letters become a way of explaining Bartleby's nature. The Lawyer believes that the endless pile-up of sad, forgotten letters, often intended for people now dead, must have caused Bartleby to slowly withdraw from human society, perhaps even from his own existence. But it shouldn't be assumed that these dead letters simply drove Bartleby insane. Bartleby may very well have continued working if he had not lost his job due to a change in administration. It is possible that Bartleby became his job, and when he couldn't do it any more he lost his sense of purpose. Whatever the reason, the Dead Letter office is only one small clue to the Bartleby's strange behavior.
Bartleby.com
Bartleby.com is an electronic text archive, headquartered in New York and named after Herman Melville's story "Bartleby, the Scrivener". It was founded under the name "Project Bartleby" in January 1993 by Steven H. van Leeuwen as a personal, non-profit collection of classic literature on the website of Columbia University.
http://www.bartleby.com/
http://www.bartleby.com/
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". It was founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books.
https://www.gutenberg.org/
https://www.gutenberg.org/
- Spring break
Spring break is a vacational period in early spring at universities and schools in various countries in the world.
It is also known by names such as Easter vacation, Easter Holiday, March break, spring vacation, Mid-Term Break, study week, reading week, reading period, or Easter week, depending on regional conventions.
It is also known by names such as Easter vacation, Easter Holiday, March break, spring vacation, Mid-Term Break, study week, reading week, reading period, or Easter week, depending on regional conventions.
- Easter
Easter, also called Pasch or Resurrection Sunday, is a festival and holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, described in the New Testament as having occurred on the third day of his burial after his crucifixion by Romans at Calvary c. 30 AD.
- Six elements of fiction
1. Character
A figure in a literary work (personality, gender, age, etc). E. M. Forester makes a distinction between flat and round characters. Flat characters are types or caricatures defined by a single idea of quality, whereas round characters have the three-dimensional complexity of real people. 2. Plot
The major events that move the action in a narrative. It is the sequence of major events in a story, usually in a cause-effect relation. 3. Point of view
The vantage point from which a narrative is told. A narrative is typically told from a first-person or third-person point of view. |
4. Setting
That combination of place, historical time, and social milieu that provides the general background for the characters and plot of a literary work. 5. Style
The author’s type of diction (choice of words), syntax (arrangement of words), and other linguistic features of a work. 6. Theme The central and dominating idea (or ideas) in a literary work. The term also indicates a message or moral implicit in any work of art. |
Before reading the context, we should ask ourselves three questions.
1. What's that?
2. What's that for?
3. What should we care?
1. What's that?
2. What's that for?
3. What should we care?
- Roman Fever
"Roman Fever" is a short story by American writer Edith Wharton. It was first published in the magazine Liberty in 1934, and was later included in Wharton's last short-story collection, The World Over.
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- Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice is a novel of manners by Jane Austen, first published in 1813. The story follows the main character, Elizabeth Bennet, as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality, education, and marriage in the society of the landed gentry of the British Regency. Elizabeth is the second of five daughters of a country gentleman living near the fictional town of Meryton in Hertfordshire, near London.
- The Reader
The Reader is a novel by German law professor and judge Bernhard Schlink, published in Germany in 1995 and in the United States in 1997. The story is a parable, dealing with the difficulties post-war German generations have had comprehending the Holocaust; Ruth Franklin writes that it was aimed specifically at the generation Berthold Brecht called the Nachgeborenen, those who came after.
The Reader explores how the post-war generations should approach the generation that took part in, or witnessed, the atrocities. These are the questions at the heart of Holocaust literature in the late 20th and early 21st century, as the victims and witnesses die and living memory fades.
The Reader explores how the post-war generations should approach the generation that took part in, or witnessed, the atrocities. These are the questions at the heart of Holocaust literature in the late 20th and early 21st century, as the victims and witnesses die and living memory fades.
- The Giver
The Giver is a 1993 American social science fiction children's novel by Lois Lowry. It is set in a society which is at first presented as a utopian society but then has the reader question whether the societies' utopia is worth the cost. The novel follows a boy named Jonas through the twelfth and thirteenth years of his life. The society has eliminated pain and strife by converting to "Sameness," a plan that has also eradicated emotional depth from their lives. The Giver won the 1994 Newbery Medal and has sold more than 10 million copies.
1. script-: write
scribble (v) to write (a note, for example) hurriedly without heed to legibility or style.
scripture (n) a passage from such a writing or book.
prescribe (v) to lay down, in writing or otherwise, as a rule of action to be followed; appoint, ordain, or enjoin.
ps-post script
2. astr-: star
astronaut (n) a person trained to pilot, navigate, or otherwise participate as a crew member of a spacecraft.
astrology (n) the study of the motions and relative positions of the planets, sun, and moon, interpreted in terms of humancharacteristics and activities.
asterisk (n) this symbol used in linguistics to mark an ungrammatical or otherwise unacceptable utterance.
3. eq-: equinox
assets minus liabilities equal equity.
4. asperity (n)
Roughness or harshness, as of surface, sound, or climate.
5. acute (adj)
Penetrating in perception or insight.
6. profile (n)
Degree of exposure to public notice; visibility: preferred to keep a low profile.
Small profile/High profile
7. retrospect (n)
A review or contemplation of things in the past.
8. exquisitely (adj)
Characterized by highly skilled or intricate art; excellently made or formed.
scribble (v) to write (a note, for example) hurriedly without heed to legibility or style.
scripture (n) a passage from such a writing or book.
prescribe (v) to lay down, in writing or otherwise, as a rule of action to be followed; appoint, ordain, or enjoin.
ps-post script
2. astr-: star
astronaut (n) a person trained to pilot, navigate, or otherwise participate as a crew member of a spacecraft.
astrology (n) the study of the motions and relative positions of the planets, sun, and moon, interpreted in terms of humancharacteristics and activities.
asterisk (n) this symbol used in linguistics to mark an ungrammatical or otherwise unacceptable utterance.
3. eq-: equinox
assets minus liabilities equal equity.
4. asperity (n)
Roughness or harshness, as of surface, sound, or climate.
5. acute (adj)
Penetrating in perception or insight.
6. profile (n)
Degree of exposure to public notice; visibility: preferred to keep a low profile.
Small profile/High profile
7. retrospect (n)
A review or contemplation of things in the past.
8. exquisitely (adj)
Characterized by highly skilled or intricate art; excellently made or formed.