For English A1 you need to have a carefully considered grasp of the functions that Literature can serve. You need to consider all of the points presented to you in class, keep an open mind and add new information to your growing understanding of the subject area. Your aim is not to make rash judgements based on first reactions. It is to think about the deeper message that is being communicated rather than the superficial appearance of what is first imagined - to allow flexibility or change of thought when new knowledge is added to the body of knowledge you already have. The IB learner profile traits which follow are needed to do this effectively - please note the overarching aim of the IB student at the top of the document.
Quoted from IB Leaner Profile Statement:
The Ib Learner Profile
(CLICK ON TOGGLE AT TOP RIGHT FOR FULL SCREEN VIEW)
Here are some carefully considered thoughts of intellectuals, writers, peacemakers for you to think about:
“The answers you get from literature depend on the questions you pose”
Margaret Atwood (Canadian Writer, b.1939)
“Literature is where I go to explore the highest and lowest places in human society and in the human spirit, where I hope to find not absolute truth but the truth of the tale, of the imagination and of the heart.”
“Books are humanity in print.”
Barbara W.Tuchman (American historian, writer, academic 1912-1989)
“Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. They are engines of change, windows on the world, lighthouses erected in the sea of time.”
Salman Rushdie(Indian born British Writer, b.1947)
“We read to know we are not alone.”
C.S. Lewis (British Scholar and Novelist. 1898-1963)
"The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean”
Robert Louis Stevenson(Scottish Essayist, Poet and Author of fiction and travel books, 1850-1894)
“Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.”
C.S. Lewis(British Scholar and Novelist. 1898-1963)
“What is wonderful about great literature is that it transforms the man who reads it towards the condition of the man who wrote."
“Every man's memory is his private literature.”
Aldous Huxley(English Novelist and Critic, 1894-1963)
“Good children's literature appeals not only to the child in the adult, but to the adult in the child”
“The decline of literature indicates the decline of a nation.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe(German Playwright, Poet, Novelist and Dramatist. 1749-1832)
“The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean; not to affect your reader, but to affect him precisely as you wish.”
Robert Louis Stevenson(Scottish Essayist, Poet and Author of fiction and travel books, 1850-1894)
“While thought exists, words are alive and literature becomes an escape, not from, but into living”
Cyril Connolly (English critic and editor, 1903-1974)
“The crown of literature is poetry.” William Somerset Maugham.
“Whoever is able to write a book and does not, it is as if he has lost a child” Rabbi Nachman
“Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. It is a tool for daily life in modern society. It is a bulwark against poverty, and a building block of development, an essential complement to investments in roads, dams, clinics and factories. Literacy is a platform for democratization, and a vehicle for the promotion of cultural and national identity. Especially for girls and women, it is an agent of family health and nutrition. For everyone, everywhere, literacy is, along with education in general, a basic human right.... Literacy is, finally, the road to human progress and the means through which every man, woman and child can realize his or her full potential.”
Kofi Annan(Ghanaian diplomat, seventh secretary-general of the United Nations, 2001 Nobel Peace Prize.)
“Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree”
Ezra Pound(American Editor, Poet, Translator and Critic, 1885-1972)
“The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar, familiar things new.”
William Makepeace Thackeray(Indian born English Author and Novelist of 'Vanity Fair', 1811-1863)
“When I read great literature, great drama, speeches, or sermons, I feel that the human mind has not achieved anything greater than the ability to share feelings and thoughts through language.”
James Earl Jones
8 comments:
C.S. Lewis's quote "We read to know we are not alone reminded me of a Helen Keller quote we read at the very beginning of the English A1 course. She said: "Literature is my Utopia. Here I am not disenfranchised. No barrier of the senses shuts me out from the sweet, gracious discourses of my book friends. They talk to me without embarrassment or awkwardness." This quote is especially interesting because Helen Keller was blind and deaf, yet literature was still accessible to her, and despite what others may have perceived as serious disadvantage did not prevent her from enjoying language and literature.
Keller says that books are her friends - this is very very much akin to Lewis's quote. According to him we read to know we are not alone, and I wholeheartedly agree with him. With a good book you can completely lose yourself and surroundings and immerse yourself in the unknown world between its pages. And in those moments you feel as if you are part of something - part of something larger than yourself. And in that moment, as C.S. Lewis so simply put we "know we are not alone."
“The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean; not to affect your reader, but to affect him precisely as you wish.”
Robert Louis Stevenson(Scottish Essayist, Poet and Author of fiction and travel books, 1850-1894)
I find this quote rather interesting as people interpret things in different ways, and books are the only things that actually create a kind of mutual feeling amongst its readers. However, its interesting to note how even some of the best written books cause contrasting responses which then lead onto large controversies.
Do you think that sometimes authors want those controversies or do they always just have one fixed message?
What does Tony Davidson think?
“Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. It is a tool for daily life in modern society. It is a bulwark against poverty, and a building block of development, an essential complement to investments in roads, dams, clinics and factories. Literacy is a platform for democratization, and a vehicle for the promotion of cultural and national identity. Especially for girls and women, it is an agent of family health and nutrition. For everyone, everywhere, literacy is, along with education in general, a basic human right.... Literacy is, finally, the road to human progress and the means through which every man, woman and child can realize his or her full potential.”
Kofi Annan(Ghanaian diplomat, seventh secretary-general of the United Nations, 2001 Nobel Peace Prize.)
i believe that this quote is unbelievably true and i find it quite fascinating as it depicts literature in a concrete form, as though it is a place, a world around us. The quote suggests that literature creates and moulds the world around us, and without it, Kofi Annan (and i completely agree) that this world would cease to exist. This quote also emphasizes the importance of literacy in the society that we live in as it is "the road to human progress", which is very true because without literature, there would be no evolution, which in turn means that we cannot become civilized.
“Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. They are engines of change, windows on the world, lighthouses erected in the sea of time.”
Salman Rushdie
After having read Gao Xingjian's Nobel Lecture, I can see a clear link between his and Rushdie's thoughts. Gao Xingjian mentioned in his lecture that 'language is the ultimate crystallisation of human civilisation. It is intricate, incisive and difficult to grasp and yet it is pervasive, penetrates human perceptions and links man, the perceiving subject, to his own understanding of the world.'
I completely agree with this; literature has helped to craft the world we are living in today. Through literature we learn about the past, open our minds to possibilities of the future and of course, literature allows us to experience the emotions and encounters of others. Literature is the pathway to communication, expression and thought; it is educational, inspirational and encourages the exploration of humanity. Without it, who knows what civilisation would be like?
“The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar, familiar things new.”
William Makepeace Thackeray
I sincerely agree with this quote by William Makepeace Thackeray. This quote depicts the commonness in literature; the key behind a great piece of literature is always dependent on the way in which the writer conveys his/her message. Although each writer has his/her unique way of describing atmosphere, characters, events; they are still taking things from the surroundings, things that are familiar to us, like scent in Perfume. Scent is an ultimate mediocre element of life that we smell every single second of our lives; Patrick Suskind has driven scent in a completely new direction to us the readers, in a way that it has super power, which could mastermind human nature and makes us do extraordinary things.
Your comments all show deep engagement with the subject of literature and its possible functions.
It is great to see you making connections with things you have studied and read and also developing emerging authorial voices yourselves, fantastic work : )
It is this kind of knowledge and insight which will hold you in good stead for responding to your exam questions in an informed and carefully considered way as well as helping you with all your assessment activities in this subject.
(sorry for the late reply)
"“Literature is where I go to explore the highest and lowest places in human society and in the human spirit, where I hope to find not absolute truth but the truth of the tale, of the imagination and of the heart.”
Barbara W.Tuchman (American historian, writer, academic 1912-1989)
Literature is praised as a tool to explore the world, where writers enters his own imagination and expresses what he may find fascinating. The quote links to Gao Xingjian's perspective, he believes "The connotations of the language of literature must be voiced, spoken by living people, to be fully expressed. So as well as serving as a carrier of thought literature must also appeal to the auditory senses."
However, Barbara W.Tuchman only looks at one aspect of literature, fictional tales where the root of inspiration is imagination, not acknowledging how language takes reality and forms non-fictional knowledge through literature. The whole purpose of literature is to portray ideas coherently and thus, convey clear messages. If you can't find an absolute truth, or not even truth but just a pack of imaginative tale you learn from your heart, how will this unrealistic imagination have evidences to display its subject matter/lesson? True literature to me, is not just a package of expressions, meaning must be attached to every piece of written composition.
“What is wonderful about great literature is that it transforms the man who reads it towards the condition of the man who wrote."
I find this to be very true, that the reader finds themselves leaning towards the ideas of the writer and even changing their own opinions about the subjects and themes mentioned. This can be dangerous if the reader does not take the ideas as one perspective because great literature is very powerful in affecting people's thoughts. I often find myself thinking and writing in an author's voice after having read their work for an extended period of time. It is as if their voice has taken over mine and I become so enveloped into the story that I lose myself. This could be a reason why Tony Davidson said that he cannot read other books while writing his own, as he would lose his originality and ideas.
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