World Literature

World Literature

 What is literature?







 Why study literature?

Literature is “the art of written

words”

 Art - expression of an

idea that affects the

senses, emotions or

intellect



 Literature does this

with words

 Expression of an idea

or message

Types of Literature

 fiction vs. nonfiction  Essay

 Drama

 Poetry vs. prose  Biography

 Mythology / legend

 Literary fiction vs.

literary “merit”

 Why look at World Literature?







 What can it teach us? What is its

significance?

Cross Cultural Understanding

 Read Chuck

Khlosterman’s “Things we

think we know”



 What is your reaction to the

essay?



 What is the authors

message?



 How does this relate to

studying World Lit?

Universal vs Unique

 World literature illustrates both the

universality of humans

 What are some aspects of human culture

that are universal?







 What are some aspects of human culture

that are unique?

Epic of Gilgamesh

 One of the earliest known pieces of

literature

 Written between 2200 -1600 BC

 Based on ancient Sumerian mythlogy



 Based on the adventures of Gilgamesh, the fifth

king of Uruk

 Numerous tales passed down through the

oral tradition for hundreds of years



 Eventually compiled by a Babylonian writer

into one singular epic

Themes

 Heroes Quest



 Search for Immoratlity

 What can you infer about Gilgamesh based

on the photographs?

Epics

 Epic - a long narrative poem which details

heroic feats or deeds

 Many include historical or cultural significance





 Either “folk” or “literary”

 Folk – Gilgamesh, Beowulf, Song of Roland



 literary – The Odyssey, The Iliad, The Divine

Comedy, Paradise Lost

Elements of an Epic

 Hero

 Embodiment of ideal characteristics of a man





 Conflict / Quest

 A difficult or dangerous setting for the hero to

prove his worthiness, exceptionalism





 Divine Intervention

 Gods interfere in human events to help or

hinder the heroes quest

Characteristics of Epics



 Invocation

 In medius res - “opens in the middle of things”

 Large scope

 Serious tone

 Extended comparisons

 Epithets – repeated descriptive terms

 Focus on Hero

 Virtues, strengths, weaknesses, motivations





 Identify Cultural Values

 Cultural epics can be used to compare and

contrast

Mesopotamia

 Literary works must be analyzed within

their context



 What do you know about mesopotamia?

Fertile Crescent

 Early civilizations

developed in the river

valleys of the Middle

East.

 Located between the

Tigris and the

Euphrates (modern

day Iraq)

 Home to early

civilizations like

Sumer, Babylon

Lasting Cultural Legacies

 Religion:



- Polytheistic - believed

in many different gods

- Often related to things,

or forces in nature

- Not human, but have

human qualities (not

perfect)

Lasting Cultural Legacies



 Hammurabi’s Code:

- first written legal

code



- named after ancient

Babylonian ruler



-based on “an eye for

an eye”

Reading Check Quiz

 Who / What is Humbaba?







 Does Gilgamesh take mercy on Humbaba?

Why or Why not?

Characters

 Gilgamesh – 2/3rds god, 1/3rd man



 Aruru – goddess “ true and great lady of heaven”



 Enkidu – wild-man sent to challenge Gilgamesh



 Humbaba – giant who is the guardian of nature and the

cedar forest

Humbaba

 Humbaba – giant monster, teeth of dragon

fangs, face of a lion, fierce looking



 Humbaba represents the personification of

nature



 Personification – person – ification, to give

something human qualities (old man winter,

father time, mother nature, the grim reaper)

Themes

 Search for fame and renown



 Explanatory mythology



 Man vs. Nature



 Compassion vs. victory / fate

 Enkidu’s advice

Imagery

 What do the following images suggest:



 Cedar

 Fire / radiance

 Decapitation

Discussion Q’s

 What can we learn about the culture and

values of Mesopotamia based on

Gilgamesh’s actions



 Gilgamesh’s response to Enkidu’s description

of Humbaba



 What does Humbaba offer Gilgamesh? Does he

accept it, why or why not?

Quotes



 “if your hear is fearful throw away fear; if

there is terror in it throw away terror. Take

your ax in your hand and attack. He who

leaves the fight unfinished is not at peace”

- Gilgamesh

Death of Enkidu

 In retaliation for rejecting Ishtar, and killing

the Bull of Heaven



 The gods kill Enkidu, Gilgamesh is spared

by the gods



 Gilgamesh who has sought immortality is

faced with death

Death personified

 “this is the dream I dreamed last night. The

heavens roared, and earth rumbled back an

answer; between them stood I before an

awful being, the somber-faced man-bird; he

had directed on me his purpose. His was a

vampire face, his foot was a lions foot, his

had was an eagles talon”

- Enkidu

Imagery of the afterlife

 “There is the house whose people sit in

darkness; dust is their food and clay their

meat. They are clothed like birds with

wings for covering, they see no ligh, they sit

in darkness. I entered the house of dust and

I saw the kings of the earth, their crowns

put away for ever.”

- Enkidu

Themes

 Death

 Mortality of man

 Nature of death

 Nature of afterlife





 Darkness / unknown

 Sic Transit Gloria

 How can one achieve immortality?

Or at least virtual immortality

 Relationship between Gilgamesh’s quest for

fame and immortality

 His story lives forever

 Ars long vita breva





 Irony – the fact that his quest for

immortality and fame brings the death of his

best friend

Vocab

 Countenance  Incantation

 Immolation  Ecstasy

 Pyre  Talon

 Succor  Scorn

 Somber  Snared

 smothered

Archetypes

 An archetype is an original model of a

person or an idea

 It represents the ideal



 It represents a prototype



 There are many different character archetypes

Trickster

 Someone who plays

tricks or breaks

conventions

 Survive with wits or

cleverness instead of

strength

 Ambiguos

Child

 Innocent, childlike

behavior

 Naïve

 Gets into trouble, or

the reason that people

get into conflicts

Devil

 Personification of evil

 Create chaos, danger,

and obstruct good

 Temptation to worldly

desires (power, $)

Hero

HEROES







An archetypal view

Hero debate

 Indiana Jones vs. James Bond

Whose the better hero and why?

Hero Debate

Superman vs. Batman

Discussion Question

 What is a hero?

 What makes one a hero?





 Who are some heroes today?

  has the idea of what a “hero” is changed over

time? How?

Pat Tillman

Chelsey “Sulley” Sullenberger

Heroes

 A person who faces danger from a position

of weakness



 Self sacrifice, or endangering ones self for

some sort of greater good



 Come from some sort of unusual

circumstances (birth, upbringing, lineage)

Characteristics of a Hero

 Self-Sacrificing  Can be anyone, who

 Willing to make a does something out of

positive difference the ordinary

 Humble  Puts ones life in

 Look out for the danger for someone

interests of others else

 Moral example  Able to overcome the

odds

 Selfless

 Act out of kindness

 Admirable

 Risk-taker

Modern vs. Ancient

 Ancient view:

 Almost above human

 Destiny driven

 Quest for glory, personal gain, or revenge

(justice)





 Achilles, Heracles, Odysseus

Modern vs. Ancient

 Modern view

 Ordinary people placed into extra-ordinary

circumstances

 Attain to some sort of moral code (for the

greater good)

 Have humanistic feelings (fear, reluctance,

ect…)

 Self-sacrificing, doing their job, not looking for

glory



 Modern heroes : ????

Anti-Hero

 Defies normal hero conventions

 Increasing moral complexity\





 Post modern rejection of traditional values

 Often does heroic things because it is beneficial

to himself

 Conflicted, or reluctant to do the right thing

 Has numerous human flaws

 Gritty reality vs. knight in shining armor

Anti-Heroes

Anti-Heroes

THE QUEST







An archetypical structure

 What is a Quest?







 What are some classic and modern

examples of quests?

Modern adaptations of Quests

Characteristics of a Quest

 Journey

 Physical movement, distance



 Foreign, exotic locations

 Entertainment, afterall

Characteristics of a Quest

 Obstacles

Quests are dangerous adventures



Pausch’s proverbial “brick walls”



Prove worthiness, difficulty of goal

Characteristics of a Quest

 Prize



 Repays the adventurer back for what he has

risked in trials and tribulations



 Often what he lacks in life, to make him

complete

Characterization

 Characterization is when the author conveys

info about characters through descriptions,

actions, speech, thoughts

 Direct – clearly stated

 “gilgamesh is strong”, “gilgamesh was sad”





 Indirect – implied

 “Gilgamesh cut his head off with one swoop”,

“Gilgamesh cried”

Gilgamesh – the flood

Gilgamesh

 Arbitrary nature of gods



 Symbolism



 Theme

Gilgamesh – the return

Genesis



Creation and the Fall

Book of Genesis

 First book of the Old Testament

 Genesis – birth, in the beginning, origin



 Believed to be written between 900-450 BC

 Old text from 150 BC





 Unknown authorship

Genesis

 Source of many literary allusions



 Allusion - a figure of speech that makes

reference to an event, myth, work of art, or

piece of literature



 Tower of Babel, Cain and abel, Sodom and Gomorrah, Adam and

Eve, Noah and the ark, Joseph and his coat, Abraham and Isaac,

ect…

Genesis

 Theme:



 Theological – covenant between God and Man

 Importance of salvation and redemption





 Literary – creation, imperfect state of man,

ability of man to overcome obstacles

Adam and Eve

Story of Adam and Eve

 Creation of man and woman

 What purpose?





 Fall of man

 Fruit of the tree of knowledge

symbolism

 Tree of Knowledge



 Fruit



 Serpent





Theme

 Explanatory:

 How we got here, sin, death, pain, mortality





 Idea of Shame

 nakedness

THE BOOK OF RUTH



Female protagonists in the Old Testament

Background on Book of Ruth

 One of 3 books in the Bible to center on a

Woman



 Unknown authorship

 Possibly a female author





 Written at the time of the Judges

 Between 900 BC and 500 BC

Authorship

 Possibly a woman author



 From the viewpoint of a woman



 Story centers on 2 women in desperate

circumstances during a male dominated society



 Ruth is depicted with integrality, ingenuity,

assertiveness and ingenuity

Ruth and Orpah

Ruth

 Moabite woman who marries into an

Israelite family



 Husband dies, presenting a problem





 Great- grandmother of David, ancestor of

Jesus

Ruth and Boaz in the field

Themes of Book of Ruth

 Story of Levitate Law

brother of a deceased man is obligated to marry

his brother's widow, and the widow is obligated

to marry her deceased husband's brother



 Marriage

 Taking care of in-laws

 Carrying on linage

Theme

 Inclusivity



 Loving-kindness

 Benevolence





 Importance of family / lineage